


Dark Corner

by OceanSurfer808



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Kidnapping, M/M, Prostitution, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-02-02 00:27:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12716016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanSurfer808/pseuds/OceanSurfer808
Summary: Voltron alternate universe story set in modern times where Keith is a street prostitute and Lance is a high end escort. Through a twist of fate, the two are brought together by a scheming Lotor and must deal with events that unfold.





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, not going to sugarcoat it. This is way darker than other fics I've worked on. It was started as a dare to do something totally different about the Voltron characters. After several character tweaks, the story started flowing into something else. What started out as a short short story has grown into something completely different. BEWARE! There are some very dark events in this story. Chapters will be of differing length depending on what feels right as story breaks. As always, please comment whether you love or hate the story. ;)

Dark Corner

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Keith zipped up his jacket and folded his arms as he leaned back against the old brick building. The air was damp and the cold breeze off the ocean gave him the chills. He looked around at the neon signs hanging on buildings and realized that every single one of them had at least one letter or word that wasn’t working correctly. They’d either flicker or just stay dark as the rest of the sign flashed in a desperate attempt to draw in customers. The neighborhood was too run down for anyone to want to shop here. The only reason to visit this part of town was to do business you didn’t want anyone else to know about. Drug dealers hid inside the dark alleys and peddled their wares to addicts as they walked by. Gang members huddled in groups and exchanged goods and money out in the open without fear of any law enforcement hassling them. Every now and then, you’d actually see a person going into one of the rundown shops along the street and come out with a bag of groceries or a bottle of booze. Those were the poor saps who actually had to live in this neighborhood.

And then there was Keith, watching cars pull up to the intersection and trying to look attractive as he shivered. The skin tight jeans worked for attention, but they did nothing to keep the damp breeze at bay.

“Do you think maybe you could cut down on the teeth chattering, Keith?” asked a tall man with scraggly chin stubble. “You’re scaring away all the customers.”

“Fuck off, Rolo. It’s cold out here tonight,” Keith fired back.

Rolo snickered and leaned up against the building next to Keith. “You’re such a wuss. It isn’t that cold out and you’re wearing a jacket.” He gestured at his exposed midriff and unbuttoned jeans. “I’m only wearing a vest and jeans. You don’t see me complaining about the cold.” 

“That’s probably because you’re high as usual,” Keith snarled. “Hard to feel the cold when you’re full of competing barbiturates and stimulants.”

Rolo snorted and looked down at Keith. “Pulling out the big words now, huh? You might think you’re better than the rest of us here, but you’re still selling yourself for money.”

Keith lowered his head and looked at the filthy sidewalk. He couldn’t really argue with that. Ever since his father disappeared and he dropped out of the military academy, this was how he survived. He’d be 22 in a couple of weeks and wasn’t proud of how he’d spent the last few years of his life. Unlike Rolo, he’d been trying to save some of the money he made from hustling and not blow it on drugs in a pathetic attempt to avoid reality. Someday, he’d escape this life and be something more.

His introspection was interrupted by the sound of a rumbling muffler on a Dodge Charger pulling up to the intersection.

“Here comes your weekly visitor,” Rolo stated in an amused voice. “Does he make you call him daddy?”

Keith pushed himself off the wall and gave Rolo the finger. “At least I have people that care about me, unlike you.”

The passenger side window rolled down as Keith walked up to the car. He leaned forward into the open window and looked at the driver. A patch of white hair was dangling in the driver’s eyes. A few days worth of stubble coated the pronounced jawline with a light dusting of black hair. 

“Hey, Shiro. How you been?” Keith asked the driver.

“Fine, Keith. How’s the job treating you?” the driver asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Keith sighed and rolled his eyes. “It has its ups and downs. Sometimes a few in and outs,” he said with a slight grin.

Shiro’s face took on a more serious look. “You need to get off the streets, Keith. This never ends well for anyone and you’re better than this.”

Shiro met Keith a few years ago just after his dad had disappeared. Keith was 18 at the time and had a promising opportunity at the military academy. The disappearance of his father had devastated Keith. He had hired several private investigators to look for his dad and walked into Shiro’s office hoping to hire him as well. After listening to the younger man’s story, Shiro had agreed to look into the case. 

Keith’s father’s disappearance had all the signs of foul play. His car had been found in a ditch a few miles out of town. A few days later, the family house had been broken into and then burned down. Shiro had looked into every possible lead, but they all dried up. The police were too busy to look into a case with no leads and abandoned their investigation after a few months. Keith had blown what little money he had on hiring investigators and ran away from the academy shortly after that. Shiro lost contact with Keith until another case had brought him down to the bowels of the city and he found Keith on a corner selling himself. The reunion had been tense and Keith refused Shiro’s offer to help him get off the streets. Shiro still stopped by once a week to check on him in the hope that one day, he’d accept some help and get out of this situation.

“I’m fine, Shiro. I’m not blowing my money on drugs like some people,” he gestured over his shoulder at the strung out Rolo. “I don’t suppose you’re here to tell me you found my dad?”

Keith had stopped paying Shiro years ago, but the private detective never stopped looking. In a way, Keith was like a younger brother he’d never had and he just couldn’t give up on him. Keith’s question had become a standard routine during Shiro’s visits, but the tone in his voice gave away just a glimmer of hope every time he asked it.

Shiro shook his head. “Nothing new. There’s just no trail to follow. If I get a lead, I will let you know. I’m sorry, Keith.”

A forced smile appeared on Keith’s face. “I figured. Thanks for keeping your eyes open even though I’m not paying you.” He stepped back from the car and waved as he walked back toward the corner.

Shiro shook his head and drove off. 

\------

The deep blue BMW Z4 convertible pulled up in front of The Lion’s Paw and the driver got out tossing the keys to the valet with a smile. The finely tailored suit fit his form well and screamed sophistication with a just a dash of money. The unbuttoned jacket showed off a sapphire blue dress shirt that fit snugly against his toned body. 

Lance pulled out his phone to double check the picture of the client Allura had messaged him earlier as he walked up to the roped off entryway.

“Evening, Lance. Staying long tonight?” the large built bouncer inquired.

“You never know, Hunk. I might be here for 10 minutes or make it all the way to last call. It all depends on my date,” Lance said with a smile.

Hunk smiled. “Date. Is that what you call it now?”

Lance’s face took on an exaggerated look of disbelief. “Hunk, I can’t believe you’d imply anything different. A gentleman is always in the service of a lady. One way or another.”

Hunk shook his head while grinning. “Get inside, smartass,” he said as he unhooked the rope to let Lance in. 

The music inside the club was loud and invigorating. The Lion’s Paw was currently the hottest club in town and the resident DJ helped make sure it stayed that way. Several isolated bars were strategically placed around the outer perimeter of the dance area. Each had a different colored plexiglass wall curving around it helping to keep a physical and acoustic separation from the central dance floor. Lance made his way through the gyrating crowd on the dance floor up to the DJ’s stage.

He leaned down and gave the 19 year old DJ a quick kiss on the cheek. “How’s your night going?” he asked the short woman dividing her attention between computer generated sounds and a vinyl turntable.

“Oh, the usual. Just placating a group of drunk and horny 20 somethings with my music,” she said pulling her headset down around her neck.

Lance laughed. “You love it, Pidge. You love having them all at your technological and acoustic mercy.”

Pidge smiled. “Yes I do. So, who’s the lucky lady tonight?”

Lance showed her the pic from his phone.

“She’s in the purple bar. Kind of shy. Pretty though,” Pidge said as she nodded toward the purple plexiglass wall around one of the corner bars.

Lance shook his head and grinned. “I will never understand how you manage to keep track of everyone in a crowd like this.” He gave her another quick peck on the cheek and bounced down from the DJ stage. 

Half pushing, half dancing his way through the crowd, he arrived at the entrance to the purple bar. After a quick check of his reflection in the colored wall, he made his way inside and up to the bar.

“Excuse me, bartender?” he said as he stepped up to the bar.

The orange haired bartender turned around and smiled through his garish mustache. “Good evening Lance. The usual?” he asked in a thick accent that sounded like a New Zealander got lost in London.

“You know it,” Lance said as he looked down the bar. He spotted the mousy haired girl who matched the picture on his phone.

Coran set down a glass filled with ice and an orange colored liquid with a cute little umbrella sitting on top.

Lance scowled at Coran and yanked the umbrella from the drink. “How many times do I have to ask you not to put the umbrella in there?” he asked with mock annoyance.

“Oh you love it. Now go do your thing and let me serve some people who actually tip,” Coran said as he shooed Lance away.

Walking down the bar, Lance stepped up beside his customer. “Excuse me, is this seat taken?” he said with a coy smile.

“She turned to face Lance. “No. Well, I mean, it is now. I think. You’re Lance?” 

Lance smiled and gave a slight bow. “At your service. You must be Sarah.”

The woman visibly relaxed. “Yeah, that’s right. Sorry, I’ve never done this before. I’m not sure how it’s supposed to work.”

Lance sat down on the empty chair beside her. “It works however you want it to. I am at your service this evening. If you’d like to talk, I listen. If you want to have dinner, we’ll find a wonderful restaurant.” He looked down at her nearly depleted drink. “What are you drinking?”

“Sex on the beach,” she responded.

Lance gently laid his hand over her hand. “Well, we can do that later if you like,” he said with his most charming smile. 

Sarah giggled and her face blushed bright red.

Lance winked and turned his attention to the bartender. “Coran! Can I get another sex on the beach for this beautiful lady?”

The orange haired bartender turned around and smiled through his garish mustache. “Coming right up!”

Lance turned his gaze back to Sarah and smiled. “So what would you like to do this evening? Your wish is my command.”

Sarah blushed as she looked down at the floor. “I was kind of hoping we could just pretend this was a date. I haven’t exactly had the best luck with men. Allura said you were the perfect match for me.”

“Date it is then,” Lance said as he reached out and ran his hand gently down her cheek. “Don’t be shy about anything tonight.” He gently lifted her chin up so they were staring into each other’s eyes.

Coran set her drink down and leaned his hip up against the bar. He crossed his arms and leaned forward to address the pair. “You’re in good hands with this one. Lance is a true gentleman.”

Lance cocked his head toward Coran and winked. “Unless she doesn’t want me to be.”

Sarah blushed a bright red again as Coran walked away.

Lance gently lifted her hand as he looked into her nervous eyes. “How about this? We’ll have a few drinks, spend some quality time on the dance floor and then when you’re ready, we’ll go up to my suite and I’ll make sure you have a wonderful night.”

Sarah blushed and looked down. “I think that sounds good,” she stuttered.

Lance stood up and led her away from the bar toward the throng of gyrating dancers.

Coran watched them make their way to the dance floor as the club owner walked up beside him. She was dressed in a shimmering night gown with her hair folded up in a complex sculpture. The diamond earrings dangling from her ears sparkled in the strobing lights of the club. Her whole look was the perfect reflection of elegance and class.

“Lance has it down to a science. He’s definitely one of your best escorts,” Coran said to the owner as he turned to face her.

“He’s actually the best out of all of them,” Allura said as she watched the smiling client dancing with Lance.


	2. Life Sucks

Keith trudged up the stairs to his rundown one room apartment. He unlocked the three deadbolts and turned the knob as he pushed inward. Once inside, he bolted the door again and tossed his key on the small counter that divided the tiny kitchen from the rest of the apartment. Three steps later, he was sitting on the corner of his bed in the main area. He flopped backwards and felt the bright light of the sunrise warm his face and chest. He needed a shower. He probably needed several showers, but the hot water would probably run out halfway through the first one.

He stood up and slipped out of his clothes. Tossing them on the growing laundry pile in the corner, he realized that he’d have to go to the laundromat soon. Making his way into the dingy bathroom, he turned on the shower as warm as it would go. Looking in the mirror, he noticed how tired his eyes looked. Shiro was right, he needed to get out of this life. A few more months and he’d have enough money to get a decent place and look for a real job.

He yanked open the shower curtain on the single stall shower and stepped in. Closing the curtain, he turned into the warm water. He felt the water washing away the remnants of the night’s activities. He’d made good money, but some of the stuff he had to do to make that money wasn’t exactly pleasant. He soaped himself up and rinsed off. Keith stayed in the shower until the water started getting cold. Grabbing the towel hanging on the doorknob, he dried his hair and body.

Wandering out of the bathroom with the towel around his neck, Keith lowered the blinds on his windows to shut out the morning light. He laid down on the bed to rest his eyes for a few seconds, but was sound asleep before long.

\------

The maid had just taken Allura’s breakfast away when the door to the penthouse opened and a yawning Lance walked in. He was dressed in loose jeans and that ratty old jacket that Allura had tried to burn several times to no avail. Lance flopped down on the giant sofa in the main room across from the dining room.

“I’m bored!” he whined loudly in no particular direction.

Allura rolled her eyes and groaned internally. Lance may have been her best escort, but he was a male diva if there ever was one.

“Alllluuuuraahhh, I'm sick of the same thing over and over. Wine, dine, chat, dance, and a sleepover. Don't you have anything new and interesting for me?” he whined.

Allura stood up and walked to the chair across from Lance. “Well, there's an outbound client request for tonight. It's a little different. I was going to give it to Rax, but if you'd rather…”

“I'll take it!” Lance interrupted her. 

Allura got out her phone and texted him an address. “Be at that address promptly at 7 PM tonight.”

Lance looked down at his phone. “The Seventh Palm? That's the super upscale place that just opened,” he said gleefully. “This should be fun!”

“Remember, it's work Lance. Just keep the client happy so we can get paid,” she reminded him.

“Of course! Have I ever let you down?” Lance asked as he got up and gave her a kiss on the cheek before bouncing out the door.

\------

Keith walked down the block to his usual corner. He hadn't meant to sleep most of the day, but apparently exhaustion had finally caught up with him. Thankfully, it was warmer tonight so he didn’t need to carry his jacket along. When he got to the corner, Rolo was already leaning against the building in his usual spot.

“Yo, Keith. Ready for another night?” Rolo asked him with half open eyes. “Just a couple crystals would make it so much easier for you.” He held out his hand with a few crystalline rocks.

Keith leaned up against the wall next to Rolo. “Not in a million years. That shit dulls your senses and mind. You're going to end up in a bad situation one of these times.”

Rolo snorted. “At least it makes the job easier.”

Their interchange was interrupted when a high end town car pulled up in front of them. The rear window rolled down and Rolo pushed off the wall. Keith noticed the license plate on the front of the car looked different. Instead of a state plate, it said DIPLOMATIC above the numbers.

“Hey, what’re you looking for?” Rolo asked as he walked up and leaned in the window.

“Not you,” came the curt response from inside. ”Tell the dark haired one to come over here.”

Rolo flicked off the passenger and went back to the wall. “He wants you,” he said snidely to Keith.

Keith pushed himself off the wall and approached the open window. It was too dark inside the car to see who the passenger was.

“Take off your shirt and turn around,” the voice instructed.

Keith couldn't make out the accent of the mysterious passenger. French or English maybe with a slight Eastern European flair. Either way, he wasn't going to give him a free show.

“Sorry, pal. I get paid to get naked, not do it on the street for free. There's a strip club up the block if that’s what you’re after,” Keith said and started pulling away from the window.

There was a subtle laugh from the vehicle followed by a dollar bill being held out the window. 

Keith was about to walk away when he noticed it wasn't a dollar bill. It was a 100 dollar bill.

“Now show me what's under your shirt,” the voice instructed.

Keith looked around. A hundred just for showing off was unheard of. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and slowly turned around. 

The car's occupant held out the hundred. “Nice body. Take the money and go. Or, get in and there's plenty more for you.”

Keith grabbed the money and weighed his options. It was rare for a rich guy like this to show up here. He was already $100 richer. Ignoring the little voice in the back of his head, he opened the door and got in the car.

Rolo jumped into the road and flicked off the town car as it drove away. “Stupid Keith gets all the good ones,” he mumbled and went back to his wall.

\------

Lance wasn't sure what to expect tonight, but that was half the fun. He didn't have a picture of his client, just an address. The mystery was exciting him.

Pulling on his best suit, Lance smiled at himself in the mirror and made his way out of his loft. Allura brought in high end clients and Lance made good money off them. His contract with her was a five year deal and he had three left to go. By the time it was done, he'd have enough money to pay off his loft and have a good start on early retirement. 

When Lance got to the parking garage, he hit the auto start for his BMW. He smiled as he heard blue's engine roar to life. He jumped in the driver's seat and started out for the Seventh Palm.

\------

Keith sat in silence as the town car made it's way across town. The man next to him was interesting. He had long white hair and a sharp jawline on top of a toned frame. Keith had tried to initiate conversation once, but there was no response. The white haired individual was fully occupied on his phone and Keith felt like he was just along for the ride.

The town car pulled into an underground garage and stopped in front of an elevator. The passenger got out of the car and turned back to look at Keith.

“Follow me,” he commanded and walked to the elevator.

Keith got out and stepped into the elevator next to the mystery man.

“Follow my instructions tonight and you'll be rewarded handsomely. I will give you one thousand dollars plus a bonus if you perform well,” he explained.

Keith tried not to look too excited. A thousand dollars would pay his rent for the rest of the year.

“What's your name?”

“Um, Keith.”

“You may call me Lotor.”

The elevator stopped and Lotor got out motioning for Keith to follow. The door across from the elevator appeared to be all that was on this floor besides access to a stairwell. Lotor waved his key card in front of the lock and pushed the door open.

The room was something Keith had only seen in movies. After walking through a large foyer, they emerged into the main area. Most of the area was open with a walled off area on one side and open space on the other. The bed in the middle of the open area was half the size of Keith's apartment. Several pieces of furniture we're placed around the room as well. Some faced a giant flat screen TV, others faced the giant glass windows and another faced the bed. Lotor moved to the large couch facing the bed and sat down.

“Strip down and shower. Make sure you're clean,” Lotor instructed as he pointed to the bathroom entrance on the opposite wall.

“Sure,” Keith said as he moved toward the bathroom. 

Opening the bathroom door, Keith's jaw dropped. This one room was bigger than his whole apartment. The two sinks seemed like overkill to him, but the huge glass shower was another story. It was amazing. There were jets in the ceiling and multiple walls. He stripped down and got in. He pushed a button and pulsing jets started spraying every inch of his body. Keith knew he had to get out at some point, but the jets combined with real hot water felt so good. 

Several minutes later, Keith remembered he had a client and this wasn't just a spa day. He reluctantly shut off the shower and got out. Wrapping one plush towel around his waist, he used another to dry his hair.

Lotor was too busy on his phone answering questions and making sure the hidden cameras were functioning properly to hear the shower stop. He did look up as Keith emerged from the bathroom clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist. Lotor smiled to himself.

“So, uh, now what?” Keith asked. He wasn't used to this high end of a client.

“Go climb on the bed,” Lotor instructed. “There's a blindfold on the table next to it. Put it on.”

Keith nodded and moved toward the giant bed. The blindfold was a bit much, but he'd had stranger requests before. After he propped himself up against the headboard, he tied the blindfold around his eyes and waited.

\------

Lance tossed his key fob to the young valet at the entrance to the Seventh Palm and walked into the lobby. He’d seen a TV show about the construction of the building and how it was meant to cater to opulent tastes and people with far too much money. It was half hotel and half condos that even movie stars would covet. Walking by the white marble front desk and the colorful bouquets of fresh flowers in the middle of the giant lobby, there was no doubt this place was meant for the upper crust of humanity.

As he approached the elevator, a pair of security guards blocked his path. “Hey guys. I’m supposed to meet someone up on the 31st floor.”

“The 31st floor is a private residence. May we see your key card, sir?” the larger of the two asked him.

Lance pursed his lips and held out his hands in a placating gesture. “I don’t have one. Can you call up to room 3101 and tell them Lance is here?”

“He’s on the allowed guests list,” the smaller guard told the other. They both moved aside and opened the elevator for Lance.

“Have a pleasant evening sir,” they said in unison as the door closed.

Lance adjusted his suit coat and waited for the elevator to open. It made sense that a high end building like this would have restricted access. It had been a while since he’d been treated like someone who didn’t belong though and it bothered him. He came from a low income family and worked hard to break out of that mold. His thoughts were interrupted when the elevator door opened.

He stepped out on the floor and noticed that there was only two doors on the floor. One for the stairwell and one for the room. Room 3101 was the 31st floor. Whoever this client was, they were very rich. Walking up to the door, Lance rang the bell and waited.

A few moments later the door opened and Lance was faced with one of the most beautiful humans he’d ever seen. Long white hair, angular jaw, disarming smile, and eyes that could stare right through a person. Lance entered the room, slightly confused.

“I’m Lance. Allura sent me,” he stated hoping for an explanation.

Lotor gestured for Lance to follow him out of the foyer and into the main room. “Yes, she informed me she was sending her best employee. Your looks do not disappoint,” Lotor said as they walked through the foyer. “I am Prince Lotor of the Galra Nation. You may call me Lotor for tonight,” he informed Lance.

When they emerged from the foyer, Lance took a quick look around the giant room. His eyes landed on the bed. More specifically, they landed on the individual sitting on the bed. Damp black hair dangled down to his neck which flowed into a bare chest that looked like it had come from some museum statue. A towel and blindfold were the only things he was wearing.

“Oh, I’m not really into this. I escort women. I’m sorry there must have been some kind of misunderstanding,” Lance explained to Lotor.

Lotor’s smile changed into a disappointed look. “Allura assured me that you were looking for an adventure. I tell you what, since this is a bit of a shock, I will double your fee and give you a bonus if you perform well.”

Lance groaned internally. He was the one who told Allura he wanted something different. He just hadn’t anticipated something  _ this _ different. Double his fee plus a bonus was a ridiculous amount of money. He remembered Allura’s words that keeping the client happy was the most important thing.

“So, will this be a threeway then?” Lance asked gingerly.

Lotor laughed and put his hand on Lance’s shoulder as he walked him toward the bed. “Not at all. I just intend to watch. You get to do whatever you want to Keith there,” he pointed at the dark haired individual on the bed. “He is entirely at your disposal. Just remember, I’m expecting a worthy performance for your bonus.

Lance swallowed hard and looked at Keith on the bed. The guy was hot. Lance could admit that at least. He just hadn’t ever done anything with a guy and this whole situation was a bit of a shock. The money was too much to ignore though. Plus, if he backed out, he’d never hear the end of it from Allura.

“I’ll do it,” Lance said even before he fully made up his mind to do whatever it was that Lotor wanted.

“Wonderful,” Lotor said as the smile returned to his face. “Please take your time. We have all night. I would suggest you start by getting naked and introducing yourselves. Under no circumstances is the blindfold to come off of Keith. That is the only rule for tonight.”

Lance stood next to the bed as Lotor sat down on the couch facing them. Lance was used to one on one romantic encounters with a female counterpart. He really wasn’t sure how to approach this situation. Deciding to follow Lotor’s advice, he slowly started removing his suit coat. Sitting down on the corner of the bed, he reached down and pulled his shoes off as he tried to engage his shirtless counterpart in conversation.

“Hey. I’m Lance. Lotor said you’re Keith?” he said as he slipped off his left sock.

“Yeah, I’m Keith. Not quite what you were expecting, huh? Me either,” Keith admitted. “I figured Lotor wanted a roll in the sack, not a sex show.”

“So, you do this often with guys?” Lance asked as he stood up and unbuttoned his shirt. “I mean, are you an escort too?”

Keith snorted. “I’m a prostitute. None of my clients have enough money for me to be called an escort. And yes, I’m gay if that’s what you’re asking.”

Lance ignored the gay comment. “It isn’t just money that makes a difference,” Lance reasoned as he unfastened his belt. “I usually take my clients to dinner and dancing...”

Keith interrupted him. “And then you fuck. In the end, we’re the same. You just get paid a lot more than I do and probably have more fun.”

Lance dropped his pants and folded them next to his jacket and shirt. He looked over at Lotor who was paying more attention to his phone than the pair on the bed. “Oh fuck it,” Lance thought as he yanked his blue boxer briefs down to his ankles and kicked them off. He crawled onto the bed and moved toward Keith.

“So, how’s this work? I’ve never done this with a guy before,” Lance admitted. Briefly looking over his shoulder at Lotor, he added “He’s expecting a show of some kind.”

“It’s ok. I’ve had my share of closet cases before,” Keith said as he reached out and put his hand on Lance’s leg.

“I’m not a closet case,” Lance insisted. “If anything, I’m bisexual. I’ve never been with a guy, but have nothing against it. I mean, you’re damn sexy except for that mullet.”

Lance’s next thought was cut off as Keith bent forward and took Lance in his mouth. The warm mouth engulfed him as Keith’s tongue circled around his head. He’d had blow jobs from a few women, but usually his clients wanted him to perform for them and not the other way around. Going from soft to completely hard in the few short seconds of being inside Keith’s mouth actually surprised Lance and a moan escaped his lips.

Lotor looked up at the scene on the bed and smiled encouragingly. He looked back down at his phone and digitally adjusted the angle on a couple of the hidden cameras. The two figures on the bed made an interesting pairing and that fact wasn’t lost on his audience. The bidding had opened up higher than expected. Lotor knew he was a good judge of what would sell, but the bidding surprised even him.

Lance closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensations flowing through his nervous system. It had been a long time since he was the focus of the attention and not the one providing it. His head rolled back as his mouth opened in a not so silent gasp. Keith was good. Not like good good, but like really fucking good. Slowly sliding up and down Lance’s dick, Keith alternated between sliding his tongue from the base to the tip and swirling it around the entire length. Without realizing it, Lance raised his hands and rested them in Keith’s hair. His brain caught up to what his hands were doing when he felt the dampness of Keith’s freshly washed hair.

Keith worked his way up and down Lance gently. He knew he was pushing all the right buttons based on the moans coming from above. When he pulled up to the tip and tickled Lance’s slit with his tongue, he felt a gentle shudder flow through Lance’s hands on his head. Unlike most experiences Keith had in the past, Lance didn’t apply pressure or try to control the motions. In fact, it felt like he was running his hands through Keith’s hair.

The hair felt so silky flowing through Lance’s fingers. He looked down and watched as Keith slowly moved up and down. Moving one hand away from the hair and over to Keith’s back, he felt the soft skin against his fingers. He stopped when his hand hit a tattoo on Keith’s right shoulder blade. It took Lance a few seconds to register what it was since he was looking at  it upside down. The tattoo was a lion of some kind. The lion was staring off Keith’s shoulder in a longing fashion. The coloring is really what drew Lance’s eyes to it. A bright red hue acted as the outline of the lion with differing shades of red used as the accent colors. His artistic review was cut short when Keith pulled up and off of him.

“How was that for you?” Keith asked in a sexy voice as he sat up facing Lance.

The smile on Keith’s face had an element of cockiness to it that looked ridiculous since he was blindfolded. Lance regained his composure quickly. “Not too bad,” he said in a nonchalant way. “Looks like that got you hard,” Lance commented as he looked down where the towel had fallen away from Keith’s waist.

“Couldn’t help it with all that moaning you were doing,” Keith half joked.

Lance cocked his head to the side even though Keith couldn’t see him. “Was I really moaning that much?”

“Yeah, you were. Kind of a cute sexy moan every time I ran my tongue around you.” Keith reached out and found Lance’s arm and pulled it toward him. Placing Lance’s hand on his hard cock, he let go. “Now, maybe you can play with that for a bit?” he said coyly.

Lance wrapped his fingers around Keith’s hardness and slowly moved his hand up and down. Keith had been leaking heavily so his hand had plenty of clear fluid to keep things slick. “We’re about the same size,” Lance mentioned as he rubbed his thumb under Keith’s head.

The little yelp that popped out of Keith’s mouth was unexpected. Lance was rubbing a very sensitive spot. “Yeah, I guessed that as I was sucking you,” Keith said honestly. He figured they were the same length, but Lance was a little thinner with a slightly larger head.

Lance shifted his position a bit. He pushed back on Keith’s chest forcing him to lie back as he took up a position between Keith’s legs. Putting his head at the top of Keith’s cock, he slowly licked up and down its length. Lance was a little surprised by the thoughts running through his head. The first one was that Keith tasted good. He leaned in and sucked some of the clear fluid right out of the tip and rolled it around on his tongue. Slowly taking Keith’s head in his mouth, Lance remembered to keep his teeth off the tender skin. He only made it halfway down before starting to gag so he concentrated on going from tip to the midway point. He tried to duplicate the swirling tongue motions Keith had done to him.

Determined not to let the fancy escort know how well he was doing, Keith fought the urge to moan. Instead, he concentrated on keeping his breathing slow and measured. Raising his hands to Lance’s head, he ran them slowly over the top and down the sides. Keith tried to guess what Lance looked like based on feeling his hair, neck, ears, cheeks, and chin. 

Lance pulled up briefly when he felt Keith’s fingers on his face. He quickly sucked in Keith’s thumb as it moved across his lips. He looked up at Keith’s face and saw him biting his lip to keep from making noise. Lance wasn’t sure whether it was one of the cutest or hottest things he’d ever seen. His thought was interrupted when Lotor gently set a bottle of lube and condoms next to Lance. If he hadn’t been so lost in the moment, Lance might have noticed the smile on Lotor’s face was more of a sneer. 

Lotor sat back down and looked at his phone again. The pair was definitely good for business. Bidding was through the roof and he would be making a very healthy sum off of this transaction.

Opening the bottle quietly, Lance poured some of the fluid onto his fingers. He was determined to break Keith’s silence. He stopped sucking on Keith’s finger and dove back down onto his dick. The resulting slight arch in Keith’s back was nothing compared to the arch as he slid his whole index finger into Keith.

“Fuuuuuhhhh,” Keith muttered as he felt not one, but two sensations assault him. First, Lance’s mouth dove back down his dick and lit up his nerve endings. Then, just as he was processing that, a slick finger pushed deep into his ass. “Damn, Lance.” He’d meant that to come out as an angry condemnation, but instead it sounded more like he was begging.

Lance pulled off of Keith’s cock and stared up at his blindfolded prey. “Was that like a ‘stop, Lance’ or a ‘put another one in please, Lance’ kind of damn?” Not waiting for an answer, he wiggled a second finger in next to the first. The clawing hands against the sheets and sharp exhale from Keith was the only answer. Lance gently twisted his fingers around as he watched Keith’s head slowly roll from side to side. 

Keith’s mouth was hanging open and the moans were definitely not under control any longer. Lance was rubbing inside him and however he was twisting those fingers around definitely stimulated all the right spots. Fistfulls of the bed sheets were caught in Keith’s hands as he moved on the bed. How the hell was he so worked up by this cocky escort?

Lance smiled as he observed Keith responding to his intrusion. He repositioned himself so he was kneeling in between Keith’s legs. Grabbing the gold wrapper lying next to him with his unoccupied hand, he brought it up to his mouth and tore the wrapper open. He slowly withdrew his fingers, grabbed the condom with both hands, and proceeded to roll it down himself. “So, you going to be able to handle the real thing?” he asked in a slightly cocky voice.

Maybe it was the fact that there was an audience watching, maybe it was Lance’s skilled fingers and mouth, or maybe it was the irritatingly sexy voice teasing him that was making Keith fall into a lust filled black hole. He leaned up slightly, moving his hands around the bed until he felt the bottle of lube Lance had used. He snapped the lid open and traced down Lance’s body until he found what he was looking for. He poured some on his hand and wrapped it around Lance’s rubber covered cock. Quickly sliding his hand up and down, he got the whole thing nice and slick.

Keith’s aggressive moves surprised Lance and he couldn’t help moaning when he felt himself being stroked. It was a brief sensation though, because Keith quickly let go and leaned back on the bed. Lance watched as Keith grabbed a pillow from next to his head and slid it underneath his hips.

“I can handle the real thing. Think you can last more than 30 seconds?” Keith said with a lopsided grin. He grabbed his legs and pulled them back.

Lance probably would have laughed if he wasn’t so worked up. Truthfully, he didn’t know how long he’d be able to last. This was nothing like his usual outings. They were usually tame and sensual with a side of romance. This was, well, this was primal. Something about Keith was turning Lance on in a way that he never had been before. Without replying, he rose up on his knees and leaned toward Keith.

Keith felt the head of Lance’s cock against his ass. He may have pushed the escort a bit too far too fast, but his body was craving this now. He wanted Lance inside him. Thankfully, he didn’t have long to wait as he felt the pressure increase and Lance’s head pop inside. Keith exhaled slowly as Lance slowly pushed every inch inside.

Lance had never felt anything quite like this. Keith was so tight he was afraid to move. “You ok?” he asked gently once he was fully in. All signs of cockiness were gone from his voice now.

Keith heard the change from cocky to concern in Lance’s voice and it drove him crazy. In his line of work, it was all about the client getting off. Now Lance had flipped the script again and seemed to be more worried about Keith than his own pleasure. “I’m good. More than good,” Keith managed to say.

Lance smiled to himself and slowly withdrew before plunging into Keith again. After a few slow moves, Lance felt Keith’s legs lower and wrap around him. The next outward motion was ended when Keith yanked forward on Lance’s ass with his strong leg muscles causing Lance to slam into Keith. They both groaned at the same time.

The text on Lotor’s phone was scrolling at a phenomenal rate. He’d definitely chosen wisely with Keith. The surprising part was Lance. Allura’s service had definitely sent him a winner. So much so that a new topic started appearing on Lotor’s phone. Lotor glanced up and watched briefly as the two were getting more intimate on the bed. He looked back down at the scrolling messages which were now asking how much for Lance in addition to Keith. 

“We’re past 30 seconds,” Lance said as he moved even faster in and out of Keith. The smile on Keith’s face said more than any words could. Lance had never felt anything quite like this before. He was physically turned on, but Keith could keep up with his smartass comments as well.

Keith couldn’t laugh at Lance’s joke even if he tried. He barely managed to smile before he started making unintelligible sounds again. Every time Lance rammed into him, he couldn’t help but make a little yelp. Lance was rubbing against his prostate on every thrust which was sending Keith into an escalating spiral of pleasure.

Lance leaned forward more, pressing his chest closer to Keith’s body. He would alternate between hard driving thrusts and slow shallow strokes. The noises Keith was making were driving Lance wild and made him do something unexpected.

Keith couldn’t see through the blindfold, but he knew when Lance’s mouth hit his. Reaching up with his hands, he grabbed the back of Lance’s head and pulled it tight against him. There wasn’t any pretext of light kissing. Keith felt Lance’s tongue forcing its way into his mouth. He pressed back with his own and they dueled against each other.

The pace on the bed had increased and Lotor’s bids jumped accordingly. He’d have to figure out how to deal with Lance at a later date. He wasn’t some street trash that wouldn’t be missed like Keith.

Lance felt Keith’s groan through their connected lips. A few seconds later, he felt blasts of warm fluid shooting between them. The corresponding contractions of Keith’s ass muscles around Lance forced him to the edge. He saw stars as he came inside the condom deep within Keith.

The orgasm had snuck up on Keith. He usually had much better control and never came without touching himself. Lance really did a number on him. He heard Lance grunting and felt the swelling inside him as Lance finished also. The kissing dropped down from lust filled tongue duel to a passionate lip lock and then they separated.

Lance’s head dropped onto Keith’s chest as he straightened out his body and collapsed. The repositioning caused him to slip out of Keith. They both laid there panting as the sexual high dissipated. 

“So, how was your first time with a guy?” Keith asked as he brought a hand up to stroke Lance’s hair.

“Let’s just say I would definitely  _ not _ be against doing that again,” Lance said as he ran a finger down Keith’s side.

Whatever bonding moment may have followed was cut short by Lotor. “I must say, that was above and beyond my expectations.” He moved to the side of the bed and picked up Lance’s clothing. “Now, I must ask you to take your leave, Lance. Keith and I have further business to discuss. Your fee and a generous bonus have already been sent to Allura’s account,” he said and handed Lance’s clothes to him while gesturing toward the bathroom.

Lance got up from the bed, suddenly self conscious of what he’d done in front of Lotor. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll get dressed,” he said and walked into the bathroom.

“He was much better than I anticipated,” Lotor confessed to Keith. “It really looked like you enjoyed yourself.”

Keith definitely had enjoyed himself, but now was wondering what Lotor meant by further business. After a few moments of silence he asked, “Can I take the blindfold off now?”

“Not just yet,” Lotor said as Lance emerged from the bathroom fully dressed. “I need to show our guest out first.” Lotor got up and made his way to the foyer to let Lance out.

Just as he was about to enter the foyer, Lance turned back to look at Keith. “Hey, maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”

Keith smiled. “I doubt it, Escort. We live in two different worlds. Have a good life, Lance.”

“Yeah, you too.” He turned into the foyer and exited through the door Lotor held open for him.

Keith waited patiently until he heard Lotor’s footsteps next to the bed again. “So, what other business do we have to discuss?” he asked in Lotor’s general direction. Keith watched the blindfold being pulled upward as he felt a sharp pinch in his neck.

“Oh, I misspoke. We don’t have business to discuss. You are the business,” Lotor said as he watched Keith’s face.

Keith wasn’t sure what Lotor meant. He started getting up, but the room was spinning. He looked over and noticed the blindfold in one hand and a syringe in Lotor’s other hand as the world started going dark. He didn’t make it any further and fell back on the pillow as he blacked out.

Lotor watched as Keith collapsed back onto the bed. He was going to make a small fortune off of selling Keith to the highest bidder.


	3. Broken and Distracted

Allura was actually enjoying her breakfast today. The maid had baked pumpkin bread and then turned that into French toast. The sausage links off to the side were her guilty pleasure which were offset by a bowl of fresh fruit. She was just taking the last bite when there was someone pounding at the door. Her suspicions of who it was proved correct.

“Allura! I know you’re in there. Open up!” Lance hollered from the other side of the door. “We need to talk.”

It really didn’t help that the maid was trying to stifle a laugh when Allura looked over at her. “Shall I let him in?” she asked.

Allura took a deep breath. “Yes, let his royal highness in.” She got up, took a seat on the chair across from the couch, and waited for whatever storm was coming.

As soon as the maid opened the door, Lance barged in and vaulted over the couch. He landed with a plop, tossed his green jacket to the side, and glared at Allura.

“Please don’t jump on the couch like that,” she implored him knowing he would just do it again anyway. “What do you want to talk about, Lance?”

Lance’s eyes narrowed as he started speaking. “You know damn well what I want to talk about. What the hell was with that client last night? Did you know that it was a guy? Did you know that it was a threesome?” He stopped for a second to amend his thought. “Well, it was a twosome with a third watching like a creep from the couch.”

Allura calmly lifted her cup off the glass table in front of her and sipped her coffee before responding. “You’re the one who insisted he was bored and wanted something different.” She held up her hand to silence Lance as he opened his mouth. “I did not know it was going to be a show for someone, but I did know it was with a guy. You didn’t wait for the details yesterday when you accepted the offer.”

Lance leaned back into the couch and crossed his arms. “Well, you could have told me it was going to be a guy at least.”

“Do I need to remind you that when you signed your contract, you checked bisexual as your orientation? I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal for you,” she said calmly.

“Well, technically, sure, I guess not.” Lance stumbled over his words. “I just didn’t expect it. You’ve always paired me up with women.”

“You’re a natural choice for our female clients.” She decided feeding his ego would be the best way to calm him down. “They love your suave persona and dashing good looks.”

“That’s true,” Lance said as a smile crept onto his face.

“Whatever you did last night must have impressed the client. He tripled our fee and specifically designated a bonus to be paid 100% to you.” She brought up the transaction on her phone and handed it over to Lance.

“Holy shit. Two thousand dollar bonus on top of the triple fee?” he asked incredulously.

“Not only that, but Prince Lotor specifically requested you again in two weeks. It isn’t often international royalty makes a request like that. You definitely left an impression,” she admitted to him. “Do you want me to tell him you’re not available this time?”

Lance was quiet for a few seconds. That money was ridiculously good. He couldn’t lie to himself either. He’d really enjoyed last night. “No. I’ll do it.”

Allura hid her surprise as she nodded. “Ok, I’ll let him know. When I have the exact date and time, I’ll send it to you.”

“Yeah, ok.” Lance rubbed the back of his neck. Allura had come to know that gesture as a sign that Lance wanted to broach a topic that he wasn’t comfortable discussing. “So, um, did Lotor say if Keith would be there again?”

Allura’s curiosity was peaked. “Lotor didn’t mention anything other than requesting a repeat performance. Was Keith the other guy? The one Lotor watched you with?”

Lance was taking a very keen interest in staring at the coffee table rather than Allura. “Yeah, he’s the one. Just wondering. I mean, it would be easier next time if it was the same guy,” Lance rationalized.

A smile crept onto Allura’s face. “I can certainly inquire if you like. Should I make that a condition of you accepting Lotor’s offer?”

“No, that’s ok.” He stopped for a couple seconds before making eye contact with Allura again. “But, maybe you could request that he be there? You know, just to make sure Lotor enjoys it as much as he did last time.”

“I can ask when I send the acceptance notice.” She set her coffee cup down on the table. “Am I asking for Lotor’s enjoyment, or yours?”

Lance stood up and scoffed at Allura. “Lotor of course. I just want another bonus like that.”

“Uh huh,” Allura said as Lance exited the penthouse.

\------

Keith’s morning was not nearly as pleasant as Lance’s. He woke up to the sound of someone screaming. 

Opening his eyes slowly, Keith fought a wave of nausea. Whatever Lotor had given him left him with one hell of a headache. Looking around, Keith’s brain gradually came back to a functional level. A dim light stretched under a door and gave enough of a glow for Keith to check out his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that he was naked. He was laying on a twin mattress that filled one side of the small room he was in. A few inches in front of his mattress, a floor drain with a thick metal grate was embedded in the floor. Over on the wall next to the mattress was a steel toilet bolted to the wall. Above his head was a steel bar that was too high for him to reach. On the far side of the room, there was a door with a chair and table next to it. To the right of the door, there was a large eye bolt screwed deep into the wall. His hands were bound together by two fur lined leather cuffs connected by a very short chain. As he attempted to stand up, he realized his right ankle had a similar cuff that was attached to another large bolt in the corner of the room by a longer chain. The chain was long enough for him to stand and move just off the mattress, but go no further. Even if he laid down and stretched, he’d never be able to reach anywhere close to the furniture or door. He was just sitting back down on the mattress when he heard another scream. It must have come from nearby, but he had no idea from what direction. 

Keith had no idea how much time had passed before he heard a key twisting in the door lock. The bright sunlight from outside was nearly blinding to his sensitive eyes and he lifted his shackled hands up to block it.

“My apologies, I always forget how sensitive to light people are after being drugged.”

Keith immediately recognized the accent and silvery voice. “Where the fuck am I, Lotor? What’s going on?”

Lotor flipped on a weak overhead light, closed the door, and pulled the chair over to sit in front of Keith. “Where you are isn’t important. Think of it as a training camp. This is where you will learn how to behave.”

Keith lowered his hands and gauged the distance between Lotor and the mattress. Lotor had positioned the chair just outside of Keith’s reach. “How to behave? What the hell are you talking about?” The quiet laugh that came from Lotor sent chills down Keith’s spine.

“It’s really quite simple. Your audition last night had some very high bids. They were all very pleased with your sexual performance.” Lotor’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been sold to a wealthy prince in some oil rich country on the other side of the globe. His name isn’t important, but his money is. He’s already referring to you as his pet. It’s quite adorable. Since your blood test came back negative for any diseases, the deal was officially finalized this morning.” Lotor stood up and walked closer to Keith. “The sad part is you’re the 3rd ‘pet’ I’ve delivered to him in two years time. I think he’s rather hard on them. I suspect you’ll last quite a bit longer.”

Keith figured Lotor had miscalculated when he left the chair to gloat. Keith shoved himself upward with his legs in an attempt to reach Lotor. He stopped midway into his liftoff when every muscle in his body convulsed in pain.

“Now, see that is exactly what I mean when you have to learn how to behave.” Lotor released the button on the small remote in his hand. The electric current immediately stopped flowing through Keith’s ankle chain and he collapsed back on the mattress. “My client expects a degree of complacency from his pets. I know it isn’t in your nature, but we’ll work on it.”

Keith slowly sat up. “You’re crazy if you think I’ll ever do what you say,” he spit out toward his captor.

“Oh you will. They all do. Someone will be by later to give you some food. I suggest you eat it because it will be your only meal of the day. We’ll start your training in earnest tomorrow.” Lotor turned and opened the door. On his way out he turned back to Keith. “Oh, and I didn’t think you’d mind that I gave your promised fee to Lance as a bonus. I hadn’t expected people to start bidding on him too. Hopefully, he spends the money quickly since he’ll be joining you here in a couple weeks.”

Keith sank back against the cement wall as Lotor closed the door with a quiet laugh. He wasn’t sure what to do. Not only was he trapped, but Lotor was going to go after that Lance guy too. Keith felt even more powerless than when his father had disappeared. 

\------

Lance arrived at The Lion’s Paw early for his evening appointment. He handed the valet his key and walked up to the entrance. The bouncer looked him over.

“Hey, Lance. You have another hot date tonight?” Hunk asked him jokingly.

Lance shrugged his shoulders. “The usual probably,” he said in a slightly monotone voice.

Hunk scowled and looked at Lance. “You ok? I’ve never seen you unexcited for one of your dates.”

Lance laughed lightly and smiled at Hunk. “Good point! The night is young,” he said and ducked under the rope Hunk held up.

The club wasn’t nearly full this early in the evening. Lance didn’t bump into anyone on his way up to the DJ stage and sat down on the empty chair next to Pidge.

She sat down in her own chair and pulled off her headphones. “So, you weren’t here last night. Did you finally take a night off?” she asked curiously.

Lance leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. “No. I had an outcall. A client wanted to meet at the Seventh Palm.”

“Oh god! That’s that super expensive place that has a helipad on the roof even. How was it?” she asked excitedly.

“The building was amazing. Marble everywhere and the client has the whole 31st floor. It makes Allura’s penthouse look like a one bedroom apartment,” he said with mild amusement.

Pidge was impressed. She’d been in Allura’s penthouse a few times and left impressed. Allura owned the whole building above The Lion’s Paw. Most of it was hotel rooms, but the top few floors were broken up into residences. Allura had the top floor all to herself. “Who was the client? Was it a famous movie star or something? Was she hot? Did the usual Lance charms work on her?” Pidge fired off one curiosity after the other.

“The client was from another country,” he said twirling his hand in the air.

Pidge picked up on his lack of details quickly. “So, what did she want to do? How did it go? What country?”

Lance uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, lowering his voice. “It wasn’t a she. It was the Prince of the Galra Nation.”

Pidge’s eyes widened. Two salient facts emerged in her head after Lance’s comment. “You met Prince Lotor? Wait, you boinked Prince Lotor?”

Lance waved his hands at Pidge so she’d lower her voice. “Yes, he was the client and no, I did not boink the Prince. He’d hired another guy.”

Pidge clapped her hands gleefully. “So you boinked the other guy? You finally boinked a guy!”

“Can you please stop saying boinked?” Lance implored. “Yes, we had sex.”

She had so many questions for Lance. “Did you enjoy it? What did he look like? Did he top you?”

Lance groaned. “Why do I confide in you?” he asked her.

“Because you love me,” she said with a grin. “That and you love to brag about your adventures.”

Lance nodded. He did like to brag and Pidge liked to listen. “First off, I did the topping. He was kind of like one of those old Greek statues, but I think he was part Asian. Perfect build with sexy smooth abs. I couldn’t see his eyes because Lotor made him wear a blindfold, but I bet they’re the kind that can stare right through you. His hair was so soft and silky,” Lance said as he remembered last night’s adventures.

“Oh my god! You like the guy,” Pidge squealed. 

“What? No!” Lance responded too quickly.

“You’re lying. I can see it in your face. You have a tell,” she informed him. “You start biting your lower right lip whenever you’re telling a lie.”

Lance realized he was indeed nibbling on his lower lip. “Well, that’s something I didn’t know.” He refocused his attention on Pidge. “Why would I like him? We only had sex. He’s a prostitute or hustler. Not really my style.”

Pidge grinned. “So, Lance likes the bad boy type. I didn’t expect that.”

“Ug. I don’t like him!” Lance protested as he got up to go see if his client had arrived yet.

“You’re biting your lip again!” Pidge yelled behind him.

“Damn it,” Lance muttered to himself as he walked to the purple bar.


	4. Despair and Confusion

Keith had no idea how much time had passed. The room was usually completely dark with the door closed. He had been alternating between yanking on his ankle chain to see if it would loosen and sleeping. Someone had come in and left a styrofoam bowl filled with chicken noodle soup on the floor next to his bed while he was sleeping. Keith had drank the soup and scooped out the noodles like a starving animal. Thankfully, the screams from his mystery neighbor had stopped shortly after Lotor left the other day. He was just about to lay down on the mattress again when he heard a key enter the door’s lock. 

Lotor opened the door and flipped on the switch next to it. A couple of recessed fluorescent bulbs slowly flickered to life in the middle of the room giving a weak glow. He walked in and pulled the chair out of the corner. He set it just outside of Keith’s reach and took a seat.

“Sorry you had to sit here alone for so long. One of the other tenants was a bit more stubborn than I anticipated,” Lotor said in an apologetic tone. “But, he finally realized his place and accepted his fate. Much like you will.”

Keith was just about to say something when a second figure walked in. It looked like a football linebacker had just entered the room.

“Keith, this is Zethrid. Now that she’s done with your neighbor, she’ll be spending some quality time with you. The sooner you realize your place, the better off you’ll be. Just think, as soon as you come to accept your future role in the world, you’ll leave this cell and be living in a luxurious mansion in a foreign land.” Lotor stood up and pushed the chair back. He took a rope from Zethrid and tossed a weighted end over the bar high above Keith. “Now, please stand up.”

Keith sneered at Lotor and didn’t move. Even when he saw the little remote for his ankle chain in Lotor’s hand he refused to move. When Lotor pushed the button, every muscle in Keith’s body tightened painfully as the electric current flowed through his ankle chain.

Lotor released the button and leaned down over Keith. “You are going to be a fun one,” he snarled as he attached a clip on the end of the rope to the chain joining Keith’s wrist restraints. He went back to the wall near the door and thread the rope into the large eye bolt in the wall. He handed the end of the rope to Zethrid who pulled on it.

Keith felt his body being pulled upward by his wrists. The rope Lotor had attached to his restraints was being tugged over the bar above his head by Zethrid. Against Keith’s will, he found himself standing on his feet being held upright by his wrists far above his head. He watched as Lotor tied off the other end of the rope. Keith noticed Zethrid had laid out some objects on the small table. He saw a few metal rods, wire, something that had a turnable knob, and a car battery amongst other unidentifiable items. Keith swallowed. Suddenly he understood why his neighbor had been screaming.

“Unfortunately, I have some business to attend to so I will leave you in Zethrid’s capable hands. Oh, and I got an acceptance message from Allura today. Sounds like Lance is up for joining me again next week. He even requested that you be there. Isn’t that cute? Maybe you’ll still be here when he arrives,” he said and turned to Zethrid. “Remember, no visible marks. The client was very particular about that,” he said and closed the door behind him.

\------

Shiro had just finished up delivering some legal documents to a client near the harbor. It hadn’t been the usual week between visits, but he might as well check up on Keith while he was down in this part of town. He pulled up to Keith’s usual corner, but didn’t see him. Shiro parked his car and got out.

“Hey, Yoyo. Have you seen Keith?” Shiro asked the scruffy looking one that always seemed to be hanging around here.

“It’s Rolo, not Yoyo you jerk. And no, I haven’t seen Keith in a couple days. He hasn’t been back to his apartment either,” he said.

Shiro moved directly in front of Rolo. “You haven’t seen him in a few days? How do you know that Keith hasn’t been to his apartment?” he asked while fixing Rolo with a stare.

“None of your business, Keith’s Dad. Now get out of my face.”

Shiro grabbed Rolo by his ratty vest and shoved him against the brick wall. “I asked  _ how _ you knew he hasn’t been in his apartment.” Shiro punched the wall next to Rolo with his artificial arm. The experimental titanium arm the military had fitted him with after he lost the real one in combat came in handy sometimes.

“Okay, okay!” Rolo yelped and raised his hands in submission. “When he didn’t show yesterday, I went to his place. I picked the locks and went inside. He wasn’t around so I crashed there. I was just there an hour ago and he still wasn’t back.”

Shiro’s instincts kicked in. This felt wrong. Keith wouldn’t stay away for days. Maybe take a night or two off from his corner, but not leave his apartment too. “When did you see him last?”

“He got in some fancy rich guy’s car a couple nights ago. They guy didn’t want me. He wanted pretty boy Keith,” Rolo said with a snort.

“Who was the guy? What did the car look like? Do you remember anything about it?” Shiro started quizzing the addled street worker.

“I might remember a few things,” he said as he rubbed his thumb against two fingers indicating that money might assist his memory.

Shiro punched the wall again. This time, his metal fist dislodged a chunk of the brick and it fell to the ground next to Rolo.

“Fine!” Rolo yelled as he instinctively covered his face with an arm. “Black car, custom job with one of those glass dividers in the middle. The guy had long white hair. Really pointy face too. Has some weird accent.” Rolo tried to remember more, but he had been pretty high that night. “Oh, yeah. The car had a weird license plate. Something like diploma on the top. It wasn’t a usual plate.”

Shiro let go of the vest and stepped back. “If you remember anything else, call me. And, stay the hell out of Keith’s apartment.” He handed over a card with just his phone number on it. It was never a good idea to hand over your name and address to sleazy street informants. 

Rolo shoved the card into his pocket and held up his arms. “No phone, Dad.” He started laughing and walked off.

Shiro got in his car and started it up.  _ What the hell, Keith? What did you get yourself into? _

\------

Coran was doing his early morning restocking for The Lion’s Paw bars. He had a habit of whistling to himself as he filled the coolers full of beer and checked the level on the hard liquor bottles. He paused his routine when he saw Allura enter the club.

“Morning! What brings you down from your rooftop nest this early in the morning?” Coran inquired. Allura didn’t usually show up in the club until after opening in the evenings.

Allura moved over to the seats in front of the bar and sat down. “Pour me something strong, would you?”

“Are you ill? Fever? Chills? Hives? Excessive sweating? It’s only 10 AM and you’re asking for alcohol.” He reached down to a bottle filled with light blue liquid and poured a quarter of a glass full. “What’s caused this breach of etiquette today?”

Allura downed the drink in one gulp and pointed at the glass again. “I may have broken Lance,” she said with a sigh.

Coran’s expression changed to one of amusement as he poured another round for her. This time, he filled the glass half full. “How does one break Lance?”

Allura took the glass and sipped the drink this time. “I got a message this morning from last night’s client. I ended up giving her a discount because Lance’s ‘sleepover’, as he calls it, wasn’t up to his usual standards. She said he seemed distracted and not really into it.”

Coran leaned back and crossed his arms. “He did seem a little out of kilter last night. You might consider giving him a few days off to recharge the old batteries.”

Allura nodded. “Yes, I think that’s a good idea. He has a repeat client next week that pays extremely well and he needs to be in top form. I’m afraid that’s the client that broke Lance though.”

“What could she have possibly done to have caused our suave Lance lasting damage?” Coran wondered aloud.

Allura downed the rest of her drink. “It wasn’t a she.”

“Oh my.” Coran poured her another glass full and then poured one for himself.

\------

Shiro used the telephoto lense on his camera to check the occupants of each vehicle that passed through the gates of the Galra Embassy. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out who Rolo’s mystery car occupant was. After doing a search and cross referencing between people with diplomatic immunity and long white hair, he’d identified Prince Lotor fairly easily. The only male heir to the Galra Nation, he was quite the piece of work. Lotor was suspected of being an international arms dealer, drug kingpin, and the part that really worried Shiro, human trafficker. Of course, none of it could be proven and Shiro’s contacts on the police force said that Lotor had been declared off limits by the US State Department. 

He had rented a black sedan for his stakeout at the embassy. His Charger was far too noisy and identifiable for this type of surveillance. Shiro hadn’t seen any sign of Lotor, but he’d only been at it a few hours. Odds were against Lotor conducting his illegal business activities inside the embassy. That meant he had to have some other locations where he went about his more shady dealings. Shiro figured he’d wait for Lotor to show and then tail him to see where he went. It was a longshot at finding Keith, but that’s all he had at the moment. He reached over and took a drink of his coffee. It was going to be a long day.

\------

“What do you mean I’m on vacation?” Lance asked Allura. She’d called and told him to visit her in the penthouse. “I don’t need a break. I’m fine,” his voice didn’t sound quite as reassuring as he’d hoped.

“Just for a week. Save up your energy for Lotor’s activities next week. I liked that money as much as you did,” she said honestly. “The more well rested and focused you are for that, the better off we’ll be.”

Lance rolled his eyes and flopped on the couch. “I don’t need a whole week to rest. I’m good to go tonight or whenever,” he insisted.

Allura sat next to him on the couch. “Listen, I don’t want to disagree with you, but we both know you weren’t at your best last night. The client said you were tired and distracted.”

Lance sighed and leaned back into the couch cushion. “Maybe a little. I don’t know. I did a lot of stuff outside my comfort zone and it’s kind of stuck in my head.”

“Take this week to sort it all out. After Lotor’s thing next week, we can talk and decide what kind of clients you want to handle going forward. We can still cancel on Lotor too, if you like.”

“No,” Lance answered quickly. “I mean, that money was amazing so it would be stupid to back out. I can handle it.”

“I know you can. I just want to make sure you want to,” Allura said reassuringly.

Lance got up from the couch. “Yeah, I’m good. Mind if I hang out at the club a few nights though? For fun, not for work.”

Allura smiled. “Absolutely! Just don’t monopolize Pidge’s time too much. She has a job to do and the music doesn’t play itself.”

Lance opened the door and yelled back to Allura in a sarcastic voice. “Yes, your highness,” he said with an exaggerated bow.

Allura laughed and shook her head as he closed the door. 

\------

When Keith woke up, his mouth was as dry as a desert and his whole body ached. Zethrid’s attempts to get him to do what she wanted left every possible muscle group sore. She’d followed Lotor’s instructions and not left any marks, but his muscles were strained by her targeted electroshock methods. It took everything he had to resist her commands. She’d finally given up for the day when Keith passed out while hanging from the rope. When he’d woken up a bit later, there had been a bowl of food sitting there. He snarfed it down quickly, but realized after just how salty it had been. The only source of water in his little cell was the toilet and he wasn’t that desperate, yet. 

He was just about to try tugging on his chain again when he heard the rattle of the lock and the door slowly opened. It must have been evening because the dim light had an orange tone to it. The shadow of a thin individual cut an outline in the light of the doorway.

A water bottle rolled across the floor and landed against Keith’s mattress. He didn’t want to look desperate, but he needed that badly. He picked up the bottle, unscrewed the lid and gulped the whole thing down before his new mystery guest could take it away from him. As soon as he was done, he felt much better. His lips no longer felt like sandpaper and his tongue wasn’t sticking to the roof of his mouth. Once the water was gone, the shadow in the doorway pulled out the chair and sat down before closing the door. Nothing was said and Keith started questioning whether there was actually anyone in the room with him.

Keith had lost track of time again. He wasn’t sure if he’d dozed off or just been staring into the dark. The first time he heard the voice, it didn’t seem real. The second time, it was definitely real, but it sounded like the whisper came from inside his head.

“Hello, Keith,” the whisper said inside his brain. “I’m Narti.”


	5. Light at the End of the Tunnel

Shiro was getting frustrated. He’d spent all day watching the embassy and there still was no sign of Lotor. He was out of food and he’d have to leave soon to restock. Just as he was about to start the car, he noticed some commotion inside the fence. It looked like a car had been brought around and someone was coming out of the embassy.

“Got you, you silver haired bastard,” Shiro said quietly as he focused the lense in on the car door. Lotor climbed in the open door of the car and the gates to the embassy opened. The black town car pulled out and slowly moved up the road. Shiro started the engine and began following at a safe distance. He’d been doing this long enough to know that getting too close was a guaranteed way of getting spotted. After a while, the car started heading toward the old warehouse district on the edge of town. Shiro dropped back even further. No one would be going out to that area this time of night so any car behind Lotor’s vehicle would be suspicious. He’d just have to hope he wouldn’t lose Lotor in the dark of night.

\------

Keith’s skin felt like it was being poked by thousands of small needles. He tried not to move because every contact with the mattress made it worse. The room was still dark and he couldn’t make anything out no matter how much he blinked. He felt his wrists being moved and then lifted upward. They must have been attached to the rope again. He felt the tug on his wrists as they lifted over his head. He worked through the pain of his nerve endings and moved to a kneeling position. His wrists stopped just high enough that his arms were extended above him vertically as he knelt on the mattress.

“How do you feel?” came that damn whisper again.

“What was in that water?” Keith managed to spit out.

“Something fun,” Narti said as she circled Keith’s stretched form. “A little scopolamine with a custom opioid derivative of my design.” She watched Keith’s desperate attempts to hold still through her night vision mask. “It makes your mind play tricks on you and your skin crawl like it’s being eaten by fire ants.”

Keith tried not to move. Every tug or motion of his skin made it feel like pins and needles were stabbing incessantly. He wanted to tell her to make it stop, but he wasn’t going to break that easily. “Feels nice. Like a warm breeze on my skin,” he lied.

Narti took a finger and poked it at the small of Keith’s back where thousands of nerve endings converged. She was impressed that he didn’t scream out at the touch. The overstimulation of his nervous system would have most people begging to make it stop already. Lotor was right, this one would be a challenge. “So, you’re the strong defiant type.” She slowly dragged a finger lightly across his back from one shoulder blade to the other.

Keith ground his teeth together to stop from yelling. It felt like someone was dragging a red hot poker across his back. He didn’t know how much of this he could take.

\------

After following for over an hour, Shiro watched as the lights of the town car turned down a service road just before the warehouse district. He followed as closely as he dared with his lights off. When he saw the town car stop at one of the buildings, he turned off the road and parked behind an outgrowth of tall bushes. Grabbing his binoculars and pistol, he quietly exited the car and walked toward the building using the trees and bushes for cover. He knelt down and used the binoculars to zero in on Lotor. Shiro watched as Lotor entered what appeared to be an abandoned meat packing facility.

\------

Keith desperately tried to catch his breath when Narti withdrew her fingers from his chest. The burning sensation died down to a slight tingle once she stopped touching him. She had been gently drawing on his skin. First the back, now the front. Keith’s mind was spinning dangerously close to shutting down from the painful stimulation. He was barely aware that the door to the room was opening since it was dark outside now.

“You’re early,” Narti told Keith’s new visitor as she handed him another night vision mask. “You were right, he is very strong willed. The drugs need more time in his system. I will return in a few hours to give him a second dose and continue his conditioning.”

Lotor slipped the mask on and looked over at the mattress. Keith was visible in multiple shades of green through the night vision lenses. He could make out Keith’s strained arm muscles over his head and the sweat dripping down his chest from fighting the nerve stimulation. “Pity the drugs aren’t in full effect yet. I would have liked to assist,” he said as he scratched a nail from Keith’s neck down to his abdomen. 

Keith tried to remain quiet, but the fiery scratch seared through his nerves. He let out a short yell before he managed to get himself under control again.

“This is why I don’t let you assist, Lotor. A gentle touch is all it takes,” Narti scolded the prince. “Using nails like that will burn out his mind, not bend it.”

Lotor waved his hand dismissively. “Yes, yes. You’re the expert.” He stared at Keith through the mask. “Pity this one sold for such a high price. I might have kept him for myself.” Lotor turned and handed his mask back to Narti as he opened the door.

Shiro watched through the binoculars as two individuals exited the building. Lotor was immediately recognizable, but the other was someone new. The slender form climbed into the driver’s seat of a black sports car and pulled out as Lotor got into the town car. It looked like Lotor had a brief exchange with a guard before his car left as well. Shiro ducked down behind the large bush as the two vehicles drove by. As soon as the cars were out of sight, he quietly made his way back to his rental car where he traded the binoculars for a short aluminium bat. If Keith was in that building, Shiro would find him.

\------

“Yeah, forced vacation! Can you believes it?” an inebriated Lance confessed to Pidge.

The sound of heavy bass and techno music surrounded them, but the DJ stage was acoustically isolated to mute some of the sound from the dance floor. It made it easier for Pidge to hear everything through her headset while she worked. Right now, it made it easier for her to torture Lance. “Wow, that must suck! Being forced to take a few days off from work sounds horrible. What made her do that to you?” It wasn’t very often Lance let alcohol get the best of him, but when it did Pidge enjoyed herself far too much.

Lance’s face scrunched up like he’d just thrown a dozen Sweet Tarts in his mouth. “Nothing,” he said and crossed his arms.

“It wouldn’t be nothing if she benched you for a week,” Pidge pried.

Lance uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. He took another sip of his umbrella drink before speaking. “I got distracted. Wasn’t up to the usual  _ Lance standards _ the other night,” he said with drunken air quotes.

“Did it have anything to do with your getting all naked with that guy?” Pidge prodded.

“Sort of. Not the getting naked part. I can handle that,” Lance said drunkenly waving off Pidge’s comment. He tipped back the glass and took another sip of his drink. “I just can’t get him out of my head for some reason.”

“I was right!” Pidge exclaimed. “You do like the guy. You’ve got the same look on your face as last year when you started falling for that one woman who kept coming to the club. Every time you talked about her, you got that goofy smile on your face. What was her name?”

“Nyma. Yeah, and how did that turn out?” he grumbled. “She cleaned out my loft, my wallet, and then poof! She just disappears. Turns out she was just leading me on.” He finished off his drink and set the glass on Pidge’s table. “Besides, Keith was just a random hookup anyway. I’ll probably never see him again.” Lance felt a hand rest on his shoulder and looked up.

“Time to go, Lance. Allura asked me to drive you home,” Hunk said as he helped get Lance out of his chair. “You can’t have Pidge distracted all night and you’ve had more than enough to drink.”

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re like a giant teddy bear?” Lance slurred as he poked Hunk in the stomach.

Hunk just shook his head and walked Lance out of the club.

\------

Shiro slowly made his way toward the rundown building. He stuck to the bushes and shadows until he was beside the old structure. He’d only seen one guard, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more. Keeping low to avoid being seen through any windows, Shiro made his way to the front of the building. He was about to turn the corner when the guard exited the building and lit a cigarette. Shiro used the opportunity and stood up behind the guard. He wrapped his prosthetic arm around the guard and used his other arm to put him in a chokehold. It wasn’t long before the guard fell to the ground unconscious. 

Cautiously moving inside the building, Shiro explored several hallways and different areas. One hallway had a series of doors down its entire length facing windows on the other side. The rooms may have been private meat lockers when the building was functional. None of the doors had windows and they were all open as he walked by. Shining his flashlight inside each one revealed a crude mattress and a chair. Shiro shivered as he realized these had probably held humans against their will. Finally, he came across a door that was closed. He gently twisted the knob, but it was locked. Taking a quick look around, he pulled out a lock picking kit and started working on the door. The lock was simple and it was open in no time. The door swung inward and Shiro shined his flashlight into the room.

The light was blinding to Keith. It felt like a knife was being driven into each eye when it hit him. “Just make it stop,” he pleaded with whoever was in the doorway. 

Shiro aimed the flashlight down at the floor. In the halo of light, he could see Keith’s naked form half suspended from a rope coming down from the ceiling. Anger and concern fought for dominance as Shiro pulled a knife from his ankle and started cutting through the rope. “Hang on, Keith. We’ll get you out of here.”

“Shiro?” Keith was sure this was just another symptom of Narti’s drug cocktail. 

“Yeah, it’s me. What have they done to you?” Shiro asked as he finally cut through the rope and gently lowered Keith’s arms.

Keith didn’t quite believe it was Shiro, but he was willing to latch onto any lifeline at this point. “Drugged me. Skin is burning,” he managed to get out.

Shiro noticed the chain around Keith’s ankle. “That son of a bitch!” he swore and pulled out the lock picks again. Shining the flashlight on the ankle cuff, he worked on the small lock. Soon, it opened and Keith was no longer tethered to the wall. Shiro reached down and wrapped his arm around Keith. The sharp exhale told him that Keith had been given some drugs that overloaded his senses. “Sorry, I know this is uncomfortable, but we need to get you out of here before someone comes back.”

Keith nodded. The fiery sensations were nearly unbearable, but he had a goal to focus on now. Hearing Shiro’s voice had rekindled his will to escape from Lotor. “Let’s go,” he said and leaned on Shiro as they made their way out of the cell.

The trek up to the car was difficult. Shiro could tell that every step, every skin contact with the ground, caused Keith immense discomfort. When they finally got to the car, he put Keith in the passenger seat and quickly got in the car. It wasn’t until they were on the main road, heading away from that place, that Shiro felt comfortable. He looked over and Keith had passed out. Once he wasn’t forced to remain awake by being suspended from the ceiling, exhaustion must have caught up with him.


	6. Hangovers and Help

Lance woke up groaning. His head hurt and the sunlight pouring in through the windows stabbed at his eyes. “That is the last time I have more than one drink,” he said to himself. He looked down and noticed he was still fully dressed and lying on his bed. He knew he had Hunk to thank for getting home. Crawling out of bed, Lance made his way to the kitchen and poured a tall glass of orange juice from the fridge. Hydration was the best thing for a hangover. Sitting down on one of the stools around his kitchen island, he pulled out his phone and sent Allura a text.

_ Sorry about last night. Thanks for getting Hunk to take me home. You were right, vacation time was needed. I’m better now. Ready for work whenever you have it. _

He hit send and downed some more of the orange juice. His loft had a great view of the city and sometimes he could just get lost watching the sun move across the skyscrapers. His sun watching was interrupted by the phone beeping with a response.

_ Not a problem. We got you out before Party Lance emerged. Come to the club tonight and we’ll talk about coming back to work. _

Lance set his phone down and resumed watching the brilliant colors dance across the windows of the city. Today was going to be a good day.

\------

“What do you mean he’s gone?” The calm tone of Lotor’s voice camouflaged the rage boiling inside. “Did he manage to break out? Did he overpower you?” Lotor listened to the clueless guard’s rambling until it was clear he had no idea what happened. “Give the phone to Narti, please.” He slowly tapped his fingers on the desk in front of him while he waited. “Get Zethrid and some people to comb the area around the facility. If he’s the one that knocked the guard unconscious, there’s no way he got very far with your drugs in his system. If he had help, then we need to widen the search. Oh, and have Zethrid snap that guard’s neck. I don’t have patience for incompetence.”

After he hung up the phone, Lotor paced the length of his office inside the embassy as he thought about what to do. The money for Keith had already been transferred to him and it wouldn’t end well if he didn’t deliver. There was some time allotted for the training prior to delivery, so there was still a good chance he could find Keith. If that street rat was dumb enough to go to the police or back to his corner, Lotor would find out about it quickly and get him back. At least there wasn’t any way that Keith could warn Lance about what was going to happen. Sourcing them from two different locations turned out to be a very good idea.

\------

Keith woke up slowly feeling sunlight hit his skin for a welcome change. He looked down and realized he was on a couch with a blanket over his lower half and an IV needle in his right arm. The last thing he remembered was being locked up and having Zethrid use her electrical toys on him. 

“Based on how you were acting, I’d guess you were drugged with scopolamine and a strong morphine derivative,” a voice said from across the room. “Scopolamine is good for convincing people to do things while erasing recent memories.”

“Shiro? Where am I? What’s with the IV? How did you find me?” Keith asked as he grew more awake.

Shiro walked over and stood next to the couch. “You’re in my house and that IV bag is just saline. You were dehydrated in addition to being drugged. I’m a private detective, remember? I’m pretty good at finding people. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“You don’t want to know. Some electrostimulation being performed by a very large and unpleasant woman,” Keith shuddered at the memory.

“That means you don’t even remember the other one that drugged you. Not surprising. She looked like one that would work in the shadows and the scopolamine would have cleared your short term memory.” He handed Keith a glass of orange juice. “As soon as you’re up for it, I’ll make some food. I’m guessing Lotor kept you on a bit of a starvation diet to help wear you down too. Standard tactics to break someone’s will.”

Keith sat up. “Lotor. Fuck. I need to stop him, he’s going to kidnap someone else. Was I the only one there?”

“Take it easy. You’ve been through a lot and should rest for a couple days. It was just you and a guard at the building when I broke you out. Who do you think he’s going to kidnap?”

“I only know his first name. It was Lance. He was a high end escort Lotor brought in to…” his voice trailed off and he felt himself blushing. In the absence of his real dad, Shiro was the closest thing Keith had to a father figure. Keith already knew Shiro didn’t exactly approve of his career path. “Well, to perform with me. I guess whoever was bidding on me really liked Lance too. We have to find him so he doesn’t end up getting shipped off by Lotor.”

“An escort named Lance isn’t much to go on. What did he look like? Did you catch anything else that might help track him down?” Shiro tried to jog Keith’s memory.

Keith closed his eyes and thought about that night. He couldn’t really describe how Lance looked due to the blindfold, but he did remember a few things. “I was blindfolded so I don’t know exactly how he looked. He had shorter hair and soft skin. I’d definitely recognize his voice.” 

“Soft skin?” Shiro gave Keith a perplexed look. “I don’t think that’s going to help us find him.”

“Yeah, sorry. Just trying to remember details.” Keith set aside what Lance might have looked like and tried to remember other details. “His boss. Lotor said he would transfer Lance’s fee into an account owned by someone named Allura.” It was Keith’s turn to look confused when all the color drained from Shiro’s face.

“Did you say Allura?” Shiro said in a quiet voice.

Keith thought again about Lotor’s comment. “Yeah, I’m sure that was it. Kind of a unique name so it stuck out. Why? Do you know who it is?”

Shiro let out a long sigh. “Years ago when I was in high school, I knew a girl with that name.” He sat down on the chair across from Keith’s makeshift bed and stared off into space. “She was extremely beautiful and ridiculously smart. I never could figure out what she saw in a guy like me. She didn’t agree with my decision to join the military after we graduated so I broke it off.” A slight smile tugged at Shiro’s lips. “I still wonder how things would have been different if I hadn’t gone.” Shiro stood up and returned his gaze to Keith. “I’ll do some digging and see if I can figure out if that’s Lance’s boss or not.  Either way, there can’t be many escort services run by someone with that name. You stay on that couch and rest for a while.”

Keith wanted to do something right now. Lotor had said Lance was coming in another week, but what was to stop him from moving up the timeline since Keith escaped?

“I said rest,” Shiro said as though he had been reading Keith’s mind. “It will take a little time to track her down and there’s nothing we can do in the meantime. Please, just trust me on this.”

Keith leaned back into the pillow. Even though it fought with every instinct in his body, he knew Shiro was right. He let himself doze off as he wondered if Lance was alright.

\------

“Still no sign of him,” Zethrid reported angrily. “If he really was doped up on one of Narti’s concoctions, there is no way he could have escaped alone.”

“That was my conclusion as well,” Lotor said over the phone. “I’m checking the street corner where I found him. It’s likely he lives close by and these street rats always run home when threatened. Keep me informed if you learn more.” He hung up and got out of the car.

Rolo recognized the guy getting out of the town car immediately. That was the creep who turned him away and took Keith instead. Turns out that may not have been the worst outcome based on what Keith’s daddy pal had said.

“You were the one that tried to get my attention the other night,” Lotor said as he walked up to Rolo. “I was hoping to find Keith again. You wouldn’t happen to have seen him, have you?”

“Why would I tell you? That pretty boy gets paid and I get nothing,” Rolo reasoned. Not to mention the whole ‘Keith disappeared’ angle was a little scary.

Lotor pulled out a money clip and handed Rolo a hundred. “This is why you’d tell me. Now, have you seen him?”

If there was one thing in the world Rolo would never argue with, it was money. “No, haven’t seen him in days. Hasn’t been to his place either.”

Lotor would just as soon slit this piece of scum’s throat, but he needed information. “So, you know where he lives. Can you give me his address?” Lotor asked as he handed over another hundred.

Rolo pointed down the block to Keith’s run down apartment building. “Second floor. Apartment 203, but he isn’t there. I’ve been crashing there and he hasn’t been home since he left with you that night.”

Narrowing his eyes, Lotor fixed Rolo with a glare. “I would suggest you keep that information to yourself.” He recovered his composure and painted a scenario for the street worker. “The police might find it slightly interesting that you moved into Keith’s apartment just as he suddenly disappeared. They might wonder what you did to him.”

Rolo knew a threat when he heard one. He also knew that he’d make the perfect scapegoat for Keith’s disappearance. The other people on the corner knew the two of them fought regularly which would have been more than enough motive. This guy wasn’t kidding around. “Good point, I’ll keep that info under my hat.”

“Good. If you see or hear about Keith, give me a call and I will make sure you’re rewarded.” Lotor pulled out another hundred and dangled it just out of Rolo’s reach.

Rolo laughed to himself. Seemed like everyone wanted him to call them if Keith showed up again. Well, between dad guy and creepy guy, only one was forking over cash as an incentive. “No phone,” he said honestly. “I do have this though.” He pulled out the card with Shiro’s phone number on it and handed it to Lotor. “This guy came by. He was looking for Keith too. Told me to call that number if he showed up. That’s gotta be worth something, right?”

Lotor pulled a burner phone from his pocket and handed it to Rolo along with the hundred dollar bill. “Yes, very helpful. Now you have a phone. My number is in there so make sure and call. I’d hate to find out Keith returned and you failed to claim your reward.” He turned around and climbed back in the car.


	7. Unexpected Visitors

Keith was feeling much better. Once he’d woken from his nap, Shiro made them both some lunch and they’d eaten while discussing Shiro’s findings. It turned out that Shiro’s Allura was indeed Lance’s Allura. After Shiro had left for the military, she’d gone on to get business and psychology degrees from a local university and ended up buying a building with condos, hotel rooms, and a night club. On top of that, she ran a legal escort service that catered to high end clients. Supposedly, the service would provide escorts for a night out of dining, dancing, or other platonic activities. Based on Keith’s experience, it obviously went way beyond that. They decided that going to talk with her, so she knew about Lance’s situation, was the best course of action.

Shiro made Keith take a shower and laid out some clothes since he’d found Keith naked. Shiro could barely keep himself from laughing after Keith was fully dressed.

“I look ridiculous,” Keith said gesturing at himself in the mirror. “I look like a little kid wearing his dad’s oversized tracksuit.”

There wasn’t really anything Shiro could say to argue with Keith’s assessment. He did look like a little kid in baggy jogging clothes. “We’ll get you some other clothes later. At least you aren’t running around naked.”

“Can we go to my apartment and grab some stuff? I’ll just run up and grab some clothes quick.”

Shiro shook his head. “No way. Lotor likely has someone watching your corner and that idiot, Lolo, probably already told them where you live. I didn’t break you out only to have them catch you again.”

Keith nodded. Shiro was right. Odds were that Rolo did sell him out for drugs or money. There was no love lost between the two of them, so money would definitely win a loyalty contest. Speaking of money, all of Keith’s was hidden in his apartment under a floorboard so he’d eventually have to go back for it. “Fine, I’ll wear your giant sweats for now.”

Shiro laughed and made his way to the shower. 

When Keith looked up a bit later, Shiro was showered, clean shaven, and dressed in the fanciest clothes Keith had ever seen on him. “So… You actually shaved.” Getting up off the couch, Keith circled the now dapper Shiro. “Nice clothes too. You still have a thing for this Allura, don’t you?” he said with a mischievous grin as he sat back down.

“It was a long time ago,” Shiro answered with a melancholy look before smiling. “Besides, I dressed up so at least one of us doesn’t look like a little kid wearing pajamas.” He ducked as Keith threw one of the couch pillows at him.

\------

Allura was having a hectic day. Between needing to reschedule several clients and dealing with balancing the night club’s finances, she was addled. She sighed and fell back against the couch. Just as she found the strength to take another stab at balancing the books, her doorbell rang. 

The maid ran over to the door and opened it before turning back in Allura’s direction. “There are two gentlemen at the door for you ma’am,” she said awaiting instructions.

This was an annoyance. Allura wasn’t expecting anyone today. They could be clients though, so she forced a smile and stood up. “Well, show them in,” she said while turning around to greet her visitors. Anything else that was going to come out of her mouth vanished into thin air.

“Hey, Allura,” was all Shiro managed to get out.

Allura was trying to formulate some form of verbal response when someone in baggy sweats shoved past Shiro and barged into the room.

“I need to talk to Lance, now,” came a demanding voice from under the hood of the tracksuit.

Shiro walked in and closed the door behind him. “Let’s all sit down and talk, ok?” He walked over, sat on the couch next to Allura and motioned Keith to sit in the chair across from them.

Keith flopped down in the chair and pulled back his hood. “We need to talk to Lance,” he insisted.

Allura ignored Keith and turned to Shiro. “Why are you here? How did you find me?”

“Lance is in danger, you can reconnect with Shiro later,” Keith said in an impatient tone. “Lotor is going to kidnap him.”

Her train of thought completely derailed, Allura turned back to Keith. “What? That’s nonsense. If Lotor wanted to kidnap Lance, he had his chance last week.”

“It’s true, Allura. I had to rescue this one from Lotor. It looks like the good Prince is into human trafficking,” Shiro said and sighed. “He didn’t take Lance last time because he didn’t expect the buyers to be interested in him. Trust me, you don’t want Lotor to get his hands on your guy. Keith was a mess when I rescued him and I can’t imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t got him out.”

_ Keith? _ Suddenly it all clicked. “You’re the one who was with Lance at the Seventh Palm. You’re Keith.” Allura took a second to size up Lance’s counterpart. She could see why Lance may have been interested in him. Leaning back into the couch, she spoke to both of them. “Alright, tell me what happened.”

After a fifteen minute discourse detailing Keith’s kidnapping, incarceration, torture and eventual rescue, Allura blinked in amazement.

“We have to call the police,” she suggested emphatically.

“Lotor is off limits for the police since he has diplomatic immunity,” Shiro explained. “Apparently the Galra Nation is an important strategic partner so the State Department looks the other way when complaints come in. There isn’t much we can do legally.”

“We can figure out what to do about Lotor later,” Keith interjected. “We need to warn Lance now. Since I escaped, Lotor will probably try and sell Lance in my place.”

Allura thought for a moment. “Lance will be coming to the club tonight. We can all discuss this then. I’d rather not alarm him until then. He should be safe for the moment. As far as Lotor knows, Lance will show up for his expected appointment in a few days.”

“Can’t you just call him?” Keith implored.

Allura pictured what Lance’s response would be to that call. “Keith, trust me when I say that wouldn’t be a good idea. Lance can be a little overdramatic at times. He’d want to call the police immediately. If what Shiro says is true, it wouldn’t surprise me if Lotor has someone at the police monitoring for any calls about this. I’d rather not risk it. We can discuss it as a group tonight.”

Keith leaned back into the chair and crossed his arms. Shiro could tell he was frustrated by Allura’s suggestion, but it was the right answer. “Keith, Lotor found you and Lance on opposite sides of the social spectrum. He’d never even consider the fact that you could have found Lance. He probably figures you’ve fled the city by now. If Lance is planning on coming here in a few hours, our best course of action is to meet then and not spook him ahead of time.”

Against his better judgement, Keith didn’t protest further. He didn’t know Lance like Allura did. If she thought he’d panic and call the police, then waiting was probably best. “Fine. I’ll wait down in the club for him then.”

Allura stood up and shook her head. “Not looking like that. The bouncers wouldn’t even let you in the door in that ridiculous outfit.” She motioned the maid over. “Take Keith to my tailor. Ask Shay to get him cleaned up and into something that actually fits him” She turned to Keith. “No arguing. Based on the story you told me, there’s no way you can go back for your own clothes. Let me get you a few outfits to hold you over until you can go home.”

Keith looked to Shiro who just shrugged. He did feel stupid wearing Shiro’s baggy clothes, but this didn’t need to be a priority. “Just figure out how to save us from being sold as sex slaves while I go clothes shopping,” he said sarcastically.

As soon as Keith was out the door, Allura turned to Shiro. “He reminds me of you when you were younger. Hot headed, stubborn, single minded, and completely committed to a cause. I can see why you want to help him.”

“We go back several years. Keith’s dad went missing under suspicious circumstances and I helped investigate. He’s still missing,” Shiro said as he got up. “Mind if I get a glass of water?” he asked and made his way to the kitchen area.

“Why did you just disappear? No call, no message, no goodbye. I deserved better than that,” Allura said toward the kitchen.

Shiro found the cupboard with glasses and proceeded to fill one with water at the sink. After taking a drink, he turned back toward the living area and leaned against the kitchen counter. “What difference would it have made? You knew what my decision was and I knew how you felt about it. We were both stubborn teenagers.”

“Yes, and how did that turn out for you? You’re missing an arm,” she said in anger and immediately regretted it. “Shiro, I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

Shiro took a deep breath. He’d come to terms with the loss of his arm years ago, but Allura’s words still hurt. “I wish things had been different, but neither of us can change the past. I served my country and paid a price for it. At least this metal monster has some serious punch.” He was about to say something more, but his phone rang. It wasn’t his regular phone. The ringing was coming from the phone he used for informants. He flipped open the lid of the cheap phone and held it up to his ear.

“Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” came a slightly accented voice on the other end of the line.

“That depends, who is this?” Shiro asked as he held up a hand indicating quiet to Allura.

The laugh that came from the phone’s speaker was unnerving. “My name is unimportant. I believe we’re currently looking for the same person. A certain street urchin named Keith.”

Shiro felt multiple emotions vie for dominance when he realized it was likely Lotor on the phone. He weighed his options and decided to fish for information. “Yes we are. Do you have any idea where he is? I have a client who is looking to recoup some money Keith stole after their  _ interaction _ .” Shiro played up the word interaction indicating that the imaginary client was looking for discretion after a hookup. 

“Ah, yes. That makes sense. I am still searching for him as well. If you happen to come across any information as to his whereabouts, I will make it worth your while. Whatever your client is paying, I will triple it. Please, give me a call at this number if you get any kind of lead.” With that, the line went dead.

Shiro closed the phone and slowly walked back to Allura. “That was Lotor. He probably got my number from the guy that Keith hung around with on the street. That means he’s still actively hunting Keith.” He sat down in the chair across from her. “If he gets desperate, he’ll likely try for Lance sooner. That probably means going through you,” Shiro said with a slight sense of dread.

Allura scowled and fixed Shiro with a condescending stare. “He wouldn’t dare. Kidnapping a street worker is on a totally different level than going after a well known businesswoman. He might have been able to hide Keith’s disappearance, but there would be questions if he went after me.”

“Lotor is a megalomaniac. He can’t allow himself a serious business failure. It’s possible the client won’t be forgiving if Lotor can’t deliver. With Keith missing, Lance will probably suffice as a replacement and you’re the only direct path to get to Lance.”

Allura took a few moments to process Shiro’s comments. “What do we do?” she asked with more desperation than she intended.

Shiro reached across the table with his real arm and grabbed her hand. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I don’t know.”


	8. Reunion

Keith felt like a kind of clothing mannequin. Allura’s maid had dropped him off at some clothing establishment where the workers took a personal interest in their customers. Most of Keith’s shopping experience over the last few years solely involved visits to Goodwill, so having this personal attendant measuring him for a custom fitted outfit was mildly unnerving.

“Hold still,” came the overly pleasant voice of Allura’s personal tailor. “I can’t measure if you’re moving around.”

Keith wasn’t shy due to his line of work, but having this woman shove a measuring tape into his crotch was a bit much. “Do you really need to be that accurate?”

Shay held the tape in place and looked upwards. “If you want to wear a baggy suit,” she said with thinly veiled disgust toward the loose jogging pants Keith was currently wearing, “then accuracy doesn’t matter. On the other hand, if you want something that shows off your body, quit fidgeting and let me do my job.”

Keith rolled his eyes and stood still. Shay was an imposing woman so her oddly gentle touch was a bit unexpected. He swallowed his pride and let her poke into his crotch as she measured his inseam. “I’m not used to this,” he admitted to her.

She smiled and withdrew the measuring tape. “I can tell. Trust me, Keith. You have an amazing body and I know just how to show it off.” She stood up and walked off into the racks of clothing.

After several hours, Keith finally finished playing dress up with Shay. He must have tried on dozens of clothing options. Most of the outfits were way higher class than he was used to. At least she let him have one set of jeans that wouldn’t stand out too much in a crowd. She stood off to the side as Keith stared at himself in the mirror wearing a suitable outfit for the club that night. 

“See, I told you you’d look good,” Shay said and patted him on the shoulder as she left the room to bundle up the rest of his clothes.

He couldn’t argue with her. As he looked himself over in the full length mirror, there wasn’t any doubt that she was right. The shirt fit his body perfectly with just enough give to move around in. The pants were a bit tight for his taste, but they showed off the right things. After everything he’d been through, Keith was a bit surprised to see himself smiling in the mirror.

Shay poked her head into the room. “Come on, pretty boy. I’ll drop you off at the club and have the rest of the clothes sent to Allura.”

Keith followed her out of the shop and over to her car. “Thanks for doing this. All these outfits really do look great on me.”

“Not a problem. I enjoy making people look good,” she said and pulled out. “I know it’s none of my business, but I get the feeling that you’re not in a good place right now. You should consider working for Allura. She’s very good to her employees and I’m betting she’d be more than willing to add you to her team.”

“I don’t think I quite meet her standards,” he replied.

“Allura helped my brother and I get back on our feet after our home was torn down. Rax is one of her escorts and I, well, I make all her team look good. A few others started out down on their luck too, but you wouldn’t know it now. Just consider it. If you’re interested, I can mention something to her.”

Keith nodded slowly. He didn’t think Allura would be interested in taking a street worker into her high end world, but when all this was over he’d at least consider talking to her. Maybe it was time to get off the streets.

Shay pulled up in front of the Lion’s Paw and smiled at Keith. “Here you go. Whatever you’re going through, I hope it works out.” She gestured toward the clothes in the back. “I’ll get these to sent up to Allura’s place. Hope to see you again sometime, pretty boy.”

“Thanks, Shay.” He closed the door of the car and turned to face the club. A long line of people were waiting to get in. They were all dressed in fancy clothes and exuded an air of excitement. Keith wasn’t a fan of crowds. If there were too many people surrounding him, he got nervous and tense. He took a deep breath and reminded himself this wasn’t for his benefit. Making his way up to the front of the line, he approached the bouncer guarding the door.

“Back of the line hot stuff,” the oversized human said in a gruff voice as he gestured toward the line.

“Um, Allura told me to come to the front. I’m Keith.”

The bouncer looked down at his tablet. “Well, aren’t you the special one? Not only are you on the VIP list, but all your drinks are on the house tonight.” He pulled what looked like an unlabeled credit card from his pocket and swiped it through the reader on the tablet. “Use this at any of the bars inside for your drinks.” Lifting the rope, he gestured for Keith to enter.

If Keith thought the line outside was bad, the crowd inside was way worse. People were dancing in the middle of the club, clusters were gathered inside the corner bars, and the noise level was bordering on deafening. Gathering his courage, Keith wandered into the mess of humans and made his way into the red colored bar.

“What can I get you?” the bartender asked as she saw Keith step up.

“Something strong. How about a Black Russian?” Keith said as he handed over the card the bouncer had given him.

The bartender took the card and swiped it through her terminal. Keith’s VIP status showed on her screen and she handed the card back. “Black Russian it is.” She grabbed a bottle of Kahúla and the most expensive vodka. “What brings you to the Lion’s Paw this evening?” she asked while mixing his drink.

“I’m looking for someone,” Keith said as he laughed to himself. He didn’t even know what Lance looked like because of Lotor’s blindfolding tactic.

“Well, it’s a busy night so I’m sure you’ll find someone,” she said with a smile and handed the drink to him.

Keith thanked the bartender and stepped outside the red bar. He stood near a tall table on the edge of the dance floor, sipping his drink while he scanned the crowd. 

\------

“Seriously, why are you standing there?” Lance asked the imposing figure behind him.

“Apparently, some people have been distracting the DJ lately,” Hunk said while trying to keep a straight face. “Allura asked me to make sure nobody pesters Pidge excessively while she’s working.”

“You were slightly obnoxious and pretty drunk the last time,” Pidge volunteered with a feigned sense of innocence.

Lance grimaced and rolled his eyes. “I was having a mental crisis! You’re like my unofficial personal therapist,” he said while gesturing toward Pidge. “Who else can I confide to?”

“Yeah, and that would be why I’m here,” Hunk said while crossing his arms. “No more Pidge therapy sessions for you. If you need to get something off your chest, talk to me.”

Lance was about to make a snide comment when he was distracted by someone at the edge of the dance floor. “Pidge, who the fuck is that?” he asked.

Pidge looked up from her equipment and followed Lance’s stare. “Not sure. First time he’s ever been in here. He came in alone about 20 minutes ago, grabbed a drink in the red bar and has been watching the dance floor since.”

Ordinarily, Lance would have been in awe of Pidge’s uncanny ability at cataloging the Lion’s Paw patrons. This time, he was in awe of the patron. The individual standing at the edge of the dance floor looked like a cross between a mafia enforcer, runway model, and a lost ninja. The polished black leather of his flat toed shoes gave way to nearly as shiny black pants. They were just loose enough to qualify as dress pants, but the thin fabric pulled in closer the further up Lance’s eyes traveled. The fabric snugged tight showing off an amazing ass. Lance noticed the front was equally impressive when the individual turned again as he looked out across the dance floor. The long sleeve dress shirt was a deep maroon, but flared more red when the flashing lights reflected off of it. The shirt wasn’t quite as tight as the pants, but it definitely showed off a well toned body underneath. Lance wasn’t usually a fan of ponytails, but the jet black hair pulled into a short tail just above the neck worked well on this guy. When the stranger took another look over the dance floor, Lance couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. The dance floor lighting reflected an unusual deep purple color off of them.

“Here,” Pidge said as she held up a tissue blocking Lance’s view of the visitor.

Lance turned to pidge with a frustrated look. “What is this for?”

Pidge adjusted her glasses. “You’re drooling,” she said with deadpan delivery.

Lance’s annoyance rose as he heard Hunk chuckling behind him. “I was so not drooling,” he said while attempting to subtly wipe at the corner of his mouth just in case. “I was just admiring his tailor. That outfit looks like something Shay would put together.” He tugged at his fitted jacket to emphasize his point. Returning his stare to the dance floor, Lance tracked down the example of fine tailoring again. “Maybe I should grow my hair out. How would I look with a ponytail like that?” he asked.

Hunk cocked his head and looked down at Lance. “Not bad. I can see you in that look. Not sure how you’d look when it was loose though. I don’t really think of you as the mullet type.”

_ Mullet _ . Lance turned back to the dance floor and stared. The stranger set his drink down on a table and took another look across the crowd. Lance held a hand up in front of his eyes blocking out the top half of the face scanning the crowd. The lips, the jawline, and those cheek bones were all a match. “Holy shit…”

“Did he stop talking? Did  _ Lance _ actually stop talking?” Hunk asked Pidge in confusion. “Seriously, all it takes to shut him up is accusing him of having bad hair?”

Pidge giggled and then noticed the look on Lance’s face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was literally hanging open. “Lance, are you ok?”

With his hair tied up, Lance couldn’t be certain if the stranger was who he thought it was. Of course, the lack of a blindfold and the presence of clothes also made it a little tougher to be sure. He moved his chair behind Pidge and peeked over her shoulder.

“Uh, Lance? What are you doing?” a very confused Hunk asked.

“I think that’s him,” Lance said just loud enough for Pidge to hear.

It only took Pidge a few seconds to connect the dots. “Wait, that’s  _ him _ him?”

“Him who?” Hunk asked as he bent down to their level. 

“That’s the guy Lance had sex with,” Pidge said far louder than Lance would have liked.

“Lance had sex with a guy?” Hunk asked innocently while looking out at the dance floor.

Lance scowled and faced both of his friends. “Can we please stop calling him the guy I had sex with? His name is Keith.” He turned back to the crowd. “Besides, I’m not one hundred percent sure that it’s even him.”

“Well, go down and take a closer look,” Pidge suggested.

Lance glared at the DJ. “If I go down there, he’ll recognize me. I’m not a fan of awkward situations.”

A smirk tugged at the corner of Pidge’s mouth as she interrupted Lance. “I thought you said he was blindfolded? How would he recognize you if you can manage to keep your mouth shut?”

“Blindfolded?” Hunk was still trying to play catch up.

Lance stood up straight as Pidge’s comment registered. “Pidge, what would I do without you?” he said and started down toward the dance floor.

Hunk sat down in the chair Lance just vacated. “Ok, you’re going to have to catch me up. Who’s Keith?”

“I’ll explain later.” Pidge smiled, shook her head, and turned back to her DJ duties. 

\------

Allura had managed to get her panic under control after Lotor’s call to Shiro. She had no intention of letting some psychopath ruin what she’d built or harm anyone she knew. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Shiro’s hand holding had helped calm her down.

“We’ll figure something out,” Shiro had said in a reassuring tone which brought back too many memories.

Allura had withdrawn her hand and forced a smile. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of some things before we go to the club later.” She had stood up and went into her office, leaving Shiro alone with his thoughts.

A few hours later, Allura emerged from her office when she smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen. Entering the cooking area, she found Shiro dishing up a couple bowls of what appeared to be some kind of soup. 

“I was afraid you were going to spend the whole day in that office,” Shiro said and set a bowl down on the counter in front of her. “I cooked up some soup hoping to lure you out.”

“Since when do you know how to cook?” Allura asked with a scowl. “Last I knew, even you microwaving a cup of soup would likely result in a call to the fire department.”

“I’ve picked up a few things over the years,” he said and set a bowl down for himself.

Allura picked up a spoonful and gingerly tried it. “Not bad,” she said and took another spoonful. It was actually really good. 

“Thanks.” He looked across the table and felt a slight smile creep at his lips. Allura was still just as beautiful as he remembered. He quickly looked down at his bowl. “Once we get this Lotor thing squared away, I’ll leave you alone. I only came here because Keith was worried about this Lance guy. It was pure coincidence you were his boss. I didn’t mean to just pop into your life again.”

Allura looked up from her food and shook her head. The stubborn teenager she remembered had been replaced by a much wiser adult. Her eyes were drawn again to his artificial arm. “If you don’t mind my asking, how did you lose the arm?”

“Honestly, it was all kind of a blur. I was on an infiltration mission over in a country that had way too much sand. Turns out we’d been given a bit of bad intel and ended up raiding a heavily fortified munitions depot. Most of my teammates were cut down in the line of fire right as we entered the facility. I got hit in the leg and told the rest to fall back while I held the line.” His eyes glazed over a little as he the old memories flooded his mind. “There were just too many of them so I did something stupid. Well, they called it heroic later, but it was really just stupid. I used the grenade launcher on my rifle to fire a couple grenades into the munitions stockpiles. I remember hearing them explode and then lots of explosions as the weapons and ammunition went up in flames. When I came to, I was looking up into the bright lights of a surgical room. The survivors from my team had pulled me from the flames, but not all of me made it out.” He tapped the metal arm to emphasise his point. “Lucky for me, they were looking for someone to try out a new prototype military grade prosthetic. So, I lost my arm and gained the bionic one you see now. I spent a few more years in the military before the combat just got to be too much. I resigned my commission and became a private investigator.” He looked up at Allura. “What about you? How did the homecoming queen end up being the owner of a successful club and, of all things, an escort service?”

“You make it sound like a bad thing,” she said and sighed. “After you ran off, I was angry. It took me a while to get over you, but it helped me realize that I needed to count on myself more. I went to the university with the full intention of taking over some corporation or conglomerate someday. Plans changed when my father passed away,” she said and looked down at her bowl.

“Alfor died? I’m so sorry,” Shiro said solemnly. “I had no idea. Your father was a good man.”

“Yes he was. Anyway, when he passed away, I inherited a bit of money and decided to buy this building. I remodeled it and built the club on the first floor. The escort service just sort of happened as I listened to acquaintances who were lonely and wanted attention. One of the construction workers was working three jobs and I asked if he’d be willing to go on a date with a friend in exchange for some extra money.” She smiled thinking about how awkward that first pairing was. “It just kind of grew from there. It’s more a hobby than a business, but it does generate good income. It also gives people like Lance a chance to earn good money and get out of the role life forced on them.” She glared across the table. “And all perfectly legal.”

“Uh huh. Does that include the sex part? Pretty sure that falls outside the legal escort definition,” he said with a grin.

“What my clients and employees do after their dates is entirely up to them,” Allura said defensively. “Although I think we might need to revisit that policy after the Lotor incident.”

Shiro was about to make a comment when Allura’s phone rang. He stood up and walked to her side of the counter when he saw her eyes get wide.

“It’s Lotor. What do I say?” she said as a slight panic entered her voice.

“Calm down. Remember, he has no idea you’re on to him. Just answer and go with the flow,” he suggested and rested his non-metallic hand on her shoulder.

Allura pushed the answer button and set the phone down in speaker mode. “This is Allura.”

“Did anyone ever tell you how charming your voice is? This is Prince Lotor. I was wondering if there was any chance I could bump up my appointment with Lance? I know it’s supposed to be next week, but do you think maybe tonight or tomorrow might work?”

Allura thought quickly. If she said no, he might suspect something. If she said yes, they’d have less time to figure out what to do. “Possibly. I will have to check Lance’s schedule and get back to you. I believe he has an appointment this evening so tomorrow night would be the absolute earliest.”

After a slight pause on the other end of the line, Lotor continued. “Understandable. Please check with him and let me know. I am looking forward to seeing him again. Oh, and tell him I’m doing my best to see if Keith can join us again. I know how fond Lance seemed of him.”

Allura shivered at the implication Lotor was still hunting for Keith. “I will let him know. I’ll give you a call tomorrow when I find out his schedule. Goodbye.” She canceled the call.

“Well, we know he isn’t going to give up easily,” Shiro said as he pulled his hand off her shoulder.

“I think it’s time we got ready to go down to the club. Lance should be there shortly,” she said and stood up. “Let me change and we’ll head down,” she said over her shoulder as she walked toward her bedroom.

\------

Keith was getting frustrated. He wished Allura would get down here so she could point out Lance. All these people bumping and grinding in front of him weren’t really helping his mood. Finishing the last of his drink, he decided to go check out one of the other bar areas. Maybe Shiro and Allura were in one waiting for him. He stood up and made his way toward the purple plexiglass surrounding one of the bars.

Lance was nearly through the dancing crowd when he saw maybe-Keith set his empty glass down and start heading toward the purple bar. Lance changed course, but pushing through the gyrating mass of people slowed him down.

Keith entered the purple bar and noticed there were a couple empty seats at the far end of the counter. He quickly walked over and took the seat furthest from the door. Thankfully, the pounding bass of the dance music was muted inside the bar. The orange haired bartender noticed Keith and came down the bar.

“What can I get for you?” Coran asked. “Let me guess, something strong to dull the noise and forget the crowd, but with a hint of flavor to make it interesting.”

“Am I that easy to read?” Keith asked with a laugh.

“Been doing this for a long time my boy. The name’s Coran. I’m pretty good at reading customers. Now, what’ll it be?”

Keith handed over the VIP card. “Let’s do another Black Russian.”

Coran swiped the card and let out a whistle. “One of Allura’s VIPs I see. How about a double, extra strong?” he asked and handed the card back.

“Yeah, that will be perfect,” Keith said and twisted his chair to watch the crowd. He scanned the rest of the bar hoping to catch sight of Allura. His attention was drawn to the entryway as a man came in the bar. The guy was wearing a slim gray suit that nearly bordered on silver with a deep blue shirt underneath. His observation was interrupted by Coran setting a tall glass in front of him.

“There you go. Double tall and double strong,” he said with a wink and a twist of his mustache. “Just give a shout if you need something else.”

“Thanks,” Keith said and took a drink from his glass. Coran hadn’t been kidding. It was definitely double strong. Honestly, it was just what he needed after the week he’d been having.

Lance spotted Keith sitting at the far end of the bar. He went up to the opposite end of the bar and waved Coran over. “I’ll have my usual, please. No umbrella,” he added with a grimace.

Coran chuckled and started mixing. “Coming right up!”

“What’s the story with the guy at the end of the bar?”

“Oooh, you mean Mr. Dark & Mysterious? First time I’ve ever seen him. He’s not a fan of crowds and he’s one of Allura’s VIPs.”

Confusion flashed across Lance’s face. “A VIP?” he blurted out. How could Keith be a VIP? He didn’t even know Allura. Maybe he wasn’t who Lance thought he was. “You didn’t happen to catch his name did you?”

Coran set Lance’s drink in front of him, including the umbrella. “Nope, can’t say that I did.”

Lance pulled the umbrella from his glass and set it on the counter while glaring at Coran. “Thanks,” he said and got up.

Picking up the orphaned umbrella, Coran laughed and tossed it in the trash.

Lance wandered over to a standing table near the entrance. He took a drink and set his glass down while trying to look at Keith without being obvious. It could be him, but maybe it wasn’t. Keith had said he was a street worker. There was no way that he’d be on Allura’s VIP list. Lance realized he had been staring while he thought to himself and turned away quickly when he saw those deep purple eyes look at him.

The first time, Keith wrote it off as an accident. The second time, it may have been a coincidence. The third time he caught the silver suited guy staring at him was too much. Keith might have been at the Lion’s Paw with a greater purpose, but there wasn’t any reason flirting with a good looking guy was off limits. Keith picked up his drink and walked over to the standing table. He set his drink down on the table as the guy looked everywhere but at him. “So, you like what you see?” Keith asked in a flirty tone.

Lance couldn’t exactly ignore Keith now that he was standing right at the table. Turning his head toward the new arrival, he picked up his drink and took a sip. That was the voice. There wasn’t any doubt that Lance was staring at Keith. For one of the few times in his life, Lance had no idea what to say. “Nice hair,” was what ended up falling out of his mouth.  _ Seriously, nice hair? That’s the best you can come up with?  _ He picked up his drink and took another long swallow trying to hide his embarrassment.

“So, you’ve been admiring my hair from across the bar this whole time?” Keith said with a slight laugh. He reached up and pulled the band out of his ponytail. His hair fell back down around his neck into its usual dangly form. “Honestly, it felt so uptight like that,” he said and watched the nervous stranger take another drink. “It’s my first time here. I’m Keith,” he said and smiled across the table.

Lance took another drink of liquid courage and set his glass down. “I know. We’ve met before.”

Keith set his drink down and looked at Lance. He was actually more attractive than Keith had pictured in his mind. “I thought that was your voice. Nice to finally put a face with the rest. I’m glad I found you.”

Lance stood up tall as he winked across the table. “I knew the sex was good, but I didn’t think you’d come looking for me. I’m flattered you went to the effort of tracking me down.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Now I know for sure it’s you. That’s the smartass I remember. I didn’t track you down because of the sex. I’m trying to save your life.”

A look of confusion passed across Lance’s face, but he didn’t get a chance to investigate further.

“Well, I see you two managed to find each other,” Allura said as she and Shiro approached the table. 

Now Lance was really confused. Not only was Keith here, but Allura knew about him. “Why do I get the feeling I’m missing something here?” Lance asked Allura and crossed his arms. 

“Calm down, drama queen. We’ll explain everything,” Keith said and looked to Shiro and Allura.

“Let’s take this somewhere a little more private,” Allura said and walked to the back of the purple bar. She opened a door and led them into a good sized room with a few tables. “We usually use these rooms for bachelorette parties or catering events,” she explained and closed the door.

Lance sat down at one of the round tables and leaned back in his chair. “Ok, how do you know Allura and why did you track me down? What was that about saving my life?”

“You’re in danger, Lance. Shiro and Keith came to warn you,” Allura began.

“Lotor drugged, kidnapped, and tortured me after you left his penthouse,” Keith said bluntly as he leaned up against the wall across from Lance.

“Wait, what?” Lance stared at Keith as he tried to process that bit of information.

Keith pushed off the wall and started pacing as he explained. “Our little sex show wasn’t for Lotor. It was for people who were bidding on me. Bidding to have me as a sex slave or something. As soon as you left, he drugged me before I could get the blindfold off. When I woke up, I was in a cell and he tried to torture me into submission for my new owner.”

Lance looked over at Allura who nodded. “For real? That creepy guy was selling you?” A sudden look of indignation came over his face. “I was the demonstrator taking you for a test drive so they could decide whether or not to buy you?”

Pulling a chair out, Keith sat down next to Lance. “I guess that’s one way of putting it. Turns out that they liked your performance a little too much. The people watching decided to bid on you too.”

The color drained from Lance’s face. “He sold me too? Why did he let me go then?”

“It was too much of a risk to take you both at once. You’re sudden disappearance would have pointed the finger directly at him,” Allura explained. “I’m guessing he has some elaborate idea of how to make you disappear without raising suspicions the next time.”

“Like I’m going over there again,” Lance protested. “Why haven’t you called the police yet?” he asked the group.

“We can’t. He’s got diplomatic immunity,” Shiro quickly explained.

“That figures. He is a prince.” Lance looked at Shiro. “How do you fit into this mess?”

Allura jumped in. “He’s an old friend, Lance. We can trust him. Shiro’s the one that rescued Keith from Lotor.”

“Not to add to the bad news, but Lotor called my cell this morning. That idiot Rolo must have given him my card,” Shiro added. “Odds are, he knows who I am now.”

“That means Lotor is still actively looking for me,” Keith said with a sigh.

“Plus, he wants to move Lance’s appointment up to tomorrow,” Allura said while shaking her head.

“I don’t suppose we can just cancel the appointment,” Lance asked already knowing the answer.

“It’s not that simple. I’m guessing you and Keith have already been paid for. Lotor will be expected to deliver,” Shiro said as he rubbed his forehead. “He won’t give up easily.”

“There has to be something we can do,” Lance implored the group. “I’m too adorable to be a sex toy.”

Despite the situation, Keith found himself grinning at Lance’s comment. He wasn’t sure if it was a joke or serious, but it lightened the mood. “I’m not really into being someone’s pet either.”

“I’ll reach out to my friend at the State Department tomorrow morning. Maybe he has some ideas on what we could do,” Shiro volunteered.

Allura chimed in with her own suggestion. “I’ll talk to Pidge as well. Her brother works for the NSA. Maybe he can help somehow.”

Lance nodded. “Pidge is a genius,” he explained to Keith. “She’ll come up with something.” 

“Since Lotor knows about me, it’s safe to assume he’s got someone watching my house and office,” Shiro said with a grimace. “I think it would be safer if we find you somewhere else to stay, Keith.”

“Well, shit. There goes my plans for the night,” Keith grumbled.

“You can stay with me,” Lance volunteered. “Honestly, I’m not sure I want to be alone tonight.”

“That should be safe for tonight since Lotor has no idea where you live,” Shiro turned to Allura. “Maybe I should stay here for the night. If he starts following me after I return home, they’ll follow me here in the morning.”

Allura sighed. “Fine. You can stay in the guest bedroom,” she said and turned her attention to Keith and Lance. “Send us a message when you get home so we know you’re both safe,” Allura instructed them. “We’ll meet back here tomorrow morning and come up with a plan.”

Everyone stood up and exited the room. Allura and Shiro made their way toward the DJ platform to talk with Pidge while Lance motioned for Keith to follow him to the club’s rear entrance. 

\------

Lotor calmly set his phone down on the crate in front of him and closed his eyes. “Do you have any idea how much trouble this Keith thing is going to cause me?” Everyone in the room remained silent. “The Sultan who bought Keith is refusing to pay for the weapons he purchased earlier until his  _ pet _ is delivered. Without that money, I will be put in a very precarious position with my suppliers.” He took a deep breath and ran his fingers over one of the automatic rifles in the crate. “Someone give me some good news.”

“There hasn’t been any sign of Keith yet,” Zethrid said nervously. “I’ve got people monitoring his apartment, the corner where you found him, and informants in the police department. If he shows up to any location, we’ll know immediately. I’ve also put people on the home and business of that Shirogane private detective. I’ll have him followed as soon as he shows up. His investigation might lead us to Keith.”

“Ezor, how are the plans for Lance’s accident coming along?” Lotor asked a woman who was twirling her hair in apparent boredom.

“Oh, great!” she perked up as soon as she was the center of attention. “I’ve got everything lined up. Fuel to top off the tank, dead body that matches his build, and a very steep cliff. Once he arrives for his appointment, we’ll take his car out and it will have a little accident. It will look like he drank too much and lost control after his visit.”

Lotor rubbed his chin and looked directly at her. “How will it look like he was drunk? Even if the body is charred, they won’t find any traces of alcohol in the blood.”

Ezor laughed and let go of her hair. “Sorry, I wasn’t clear. The dead body isn’t dead yet! He’s just locked in a tiny room right now. He’ll be getting lots of free drinks just before the accident.”

One side of Lotor’s mouth lifted in a lopsided sneer. “My apologies for doubting you. Hopefully, Lance will be visiting us tomorrow evening so be ready. Maybe the buyer will accept him at a discount in lieu of Keith. At least I’ll have something to bargain with.”


	9. Sleepovers

As soon as Lance and Keith exited the club into the main building, Lance took them over to an elevator that would go down into the underground parking garage. He punched the down button and waited patiently.

“So, is this where you usually hang out when you’re not escorting?” Keith asked.

Lance grinned. “Usually. Got to show off my dance moves somewhere,” he said with a wink. “Besides, this is where all my friends are.”

They both got in the elevator and rode it down one floor to the parking garage. Lance led them out to the valet parking area and got his key from the attendant. He hit the unlock button and the blue BMW Z4 a row over blinked its lights and chirped happily as it’s engine started.

“Is that your car?” Keith asked with a little awe in his voice.

“My pride and joy. I got it after the first year of working for Allura.” He walked up and ran his hand down the fender from the headlight to the door handle. “Wait until you hear the engine purr,” he said and got behind the wheel of the convertible.

Keith opened his door and sat down on the black leather seat. He pulled the seat belt on and watched as Lance maneuvered them out of the parking garage. With the top down, the night air flowed through Keith’s hair as they drove down the road. 

“Do you have a car?” Lance asked gingerly. He knew Keith was a street worker, but he didn’t know the rest of his circumstances.

Keith leaned back into the leather seat and leaned an arm over the door. “Nope. Feet or bus for me. I used to have a motorcycle many years ago.” He thought back about selling that bike for money to search for his father. “It was a red Kawasaki Ninja. Not a brand new bike, but that thing could really zip through traffic.”

“I’ve never been on a motorcycle. Too dangerous for me. I prefer to have four tires under me at all times in traffic.”

“Sometimes the risk is exhilarating. Weaving in and out of traffic. Never knowing when someone will turn in front of you or open their car door.” Keith closed his eyes and let the wind flow over his face just like it used to on that motorcycle. If only he could go back to that time.

Lance drove the last few blocks in silence and pulled into his building’s parking garage. “We’re here!” he announced necessarily to Keith as he parked the car. They made their way to an elevator and Lance held his keycard up to the reader. “After you,” he said as the doors opened. 

When they got to Lance’s floor, he led them down to the far end of the hallway, tapped the keycard on his lock, and let them in. He tossed his key on the table next to the door and closed it after Keith came inside.

The windows were the first thing that really caught Keith’s eye. Two walls were pretty much just multiple giant panes of glass. Lance had a corner unit so both the right wall and back wall had a beautiful view out to the city.

“Allura helped me get this loft,” Lance said as he went into the kitchen area next to the entryway. “The building was in a remodeling phase and I got this corner unit for less than market value. I fell in love with the view as soon as I walked in the door. Wait until you see a sunrise out there.”

Keith wandered past the small kitchen and into the main area. The loft was narrow, but long. It was just a giant open space with a small kitchen, dining nook, living area, and a bed on an elevated platform against the far window. The wall opposite of the long glass side had an entry for the bathroom and what Keith guessed was a storage closet. In the middle living area, Lance had a desk against the glass wall and a flat panel TV hanging between the bathroom and storage entrance on the other side. In the middle was a couch facing the TV with a small glass table in between.

“You want something to drink?” Lance asked as he dug into the fridge and pulled out some orange juice and grabbed a bottle of vodka.

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you’re having,” Keith said and walked further into the open space. The bed was up on a slightly elevated platform with the headboard against the non-glass wall. “You could fit at least three of my apartment in here. This place is pretty cool.”

Lance came out of the kitchen area and handed a glass to Keith. “Screwdriver. I like something fruity before bed.” He sat down on one end of the couch as Keith sat on the opposite end. 

“Thanks.” Keith took a sip of the drink. It was a nice mix of citrus that hid the alcohol well.

Setting his glass on the table, Lance fixed Keith with a stare. “So, you ended up kidnapped and Lotor tortured you?” he asked quietly.

Keith took a big drink before tackling that one. “Yeah. He shoved a needle in my neck and I woke up chained up in a cell. I got electroshock therapy from one of his cronies and apparently drugged by another. I don’t remember the drugging. Shiro says the stuff they used wipes your short term memory.”

“I’m sorry. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have left without you.”

Keith huffed and shook his head. “How could you have known what that lunatic was up to? I didn’t think we were performing for an auction either. That bastard must have had cameras all over streaming us to the highest bidder.”

“Great, now my bare ass is all over the dark web,” Lance joked.

Keith couldn’t help but laugh. “Way more than just your ass, escort. I can’t believe he sold us to the highest bidder. What kind of a sick fuck buys and sells people as sex pets?”

“Lotor and his princely acquaintances it seems,” Lance mused and then took a drink. “I wonder how much we sold for?” he said half joking.

“I don’t even want to know. It had to be a lot for him to go to this much effort to get me back.”

Lance tapped a finger against his chin. “I bet I sold for more. I mean, it was me doing most of the work.”

Keith just about snorted the orange juice and vodka mixture out of his nose. “You weren’t even up for sale at first according to Lotor. I was the one he thought everyone would want.”

“I bet they started bidding for me when I got you making that cute little yelping sound whenever I pushed inside you,” Lance said before his brain caught up with his mouth.

Keith snickered as he finished off his drink. “Pretty sure you were making just as much noise, smartass.”

Lance felt himself blushing and quickly finished his drink. “Well, I think I’ll jump through the shower before bed. I may love the club, but hate smelling like it when I wake up.” He got up and went into the storage closet. When he came back, he had a pillow and some sheets. “The couch is pretty comfortable. I’ve fallen asleep on it quite a few times watching TV.”

Keith picked up the remote and turned on the TV. “Thanks. It’s probably way better than my bed and definitely better than the mattress in my cell was.”

Lance made his way into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. 

\------

Allura closed the door to her penthouse and leaned back against it. When she woke up this morning, she had no idea how rough the day would be. Between Shiro showing up randomly and Lotor being a psychotic hell bent on selling Keith and Lance, her world had been thrown for a loop. She took a deep breath and walked over to the living area where Shiro had wandered. “Well, that went better than expected.”

Shiro snickered. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say your Pidge friend was actually excited about this whole mess. The look she got in her eyes when you explained Lance’s situation bordered on glee.”

Allura sat down in the chair. “Pidge is unique. She enjoys subtly torturing poor Lance every possible chance. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk to her without him there.”

“I can tell she cares about him,” Shiro said as he sat on the couch. “I have a feeling she’ll come up with something. Does her brother really work for the NSA?”

“As far as I know, Matt is some kind of analyst for the NSA. I suspect he’s more than that, but Pidge is always a little dodgy when talking about him.”

“Makes sense if he’s involved in national security. I thought Hunk was going to blow a blood vessel as angry as he got. I would not want to be on the other side of that guy in a fight,” Shiro admitted.

Allura smiled. “Hunk is an overprotective teddy bear. He’d go to the ends of the earth to help his friends. We all watch each other’s backs. That’s why this Lotor thing is so irritating. I wish I’d seen it coming and then Lance wouldn’t be involved.”

“Believe me, I wish Keith hadn’t been dumb enough to go with Lotor. I’ve tried to talk him off the streets for a few years. He’s got too much self pride to listen. He could be so much more than he is.”

“If we all get through this, I can offer him a job. With those good looks, he’d make a fantastic bartender.”

Shiro snorted. “You sure you don’t mean escort? I saw you sizing him up after you sent him over to get his makeover.”

Allura stood up and looked down at Shiro. “He’d make a fine escort too. Just because you don’t approve of a career choice, doesn’t make it wrong. I don’t recall asking for your blessing.”

Shiro stood up slowly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you. I can tell you care about your people.”

“You’re damn right I do,” Allura snapped at him. She dialed it back a notch when she realized her past frustration with Shiro might be contributing to her current anger. “I appreciate your help with all this. You could have just put Keith on a train and walked away. Instead, you’re putting yourself in danger to help them all.” She walked down the hallway toward her bedroom and stopped in front of the spare bedroom door. “Here is your room. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said and walked down the hall into her own room.

Shiro shook his head and made his way to the spare bedroom.

\------

Lance emerged from the bathroom whistling and drying his hair with a towel. Even with everything going on, he felt like a new person after his nightly routine. The exfoliating facial scrub and mask always refreshed his face. The nice hot shower had softened his skin and warmed him to the core. “Your turn if you want, Keith,” he said stepping up toward his bed.

“Took you long enough. What were you doing in there?” Keith said as he got off the couch. He turned off the TV and walked toward the bathroom entrance. He caught sight of Lance standing next to the bed drying his hair wearing just a pair of blue silk pajama bottoms.

Lance turned around scowling. “I enjoy long showers and I have my skin care routine. It’s one of the few truly relaxing things in this world. Don’t you dare lecture me on wasting water or something.”

Keith stopped on his way to the bathroom when Lance turned around. The light caramel skin glittered slightly from the small drops of water coating it. Keith had felt Lance’s abs and body before, but seeing it was a completely different matter. Lance was gorgeous. Keith realized that he’d been staring for far too long. “Nice shiny pants,” he said with a forced laugh.

“These are pure silk pants you jerk. Smooth to the touch and light as air,” Lance explained to his guest. “I’ve got another pair you can wear to bed since you like them so much,” he said sarcastically.

Keith grinned. “No thanks. I sleep naked,” he said and wandered into the bathroom.

Lance opened his mouth, but nothing came out before Keith closed the bathroom door. He nervously finished drying his hair and walked to the front door. After turning the extra lock, Lance poured himself a glass of water and drank it down before making his way back to the bed. Pulling down the comforter, he crawled in. Lance preferred to sleep above the covers with just his feet tucked under the warm comforter. He reached over and flipped off the lights. “Stupid, Keith,” Lance muttered under his breath and rolled onto his side. He stared out the windows at the skyscrapers scattered about the city.

Keith finished drying his hair and wrapped the towel around his waist. Fluffing his hair in the mirror, he looked over at Lance’s vast collection of skin care products on the shelf next to the sink. “Wow, he wasn’t kidding,” Keith mumbled and turned toward the door. When he came out, the loft was dark. The only source of light was coming from city lights reflecting off of neighboring skyscrapers. He could just make out Lance’s form lying in the bed facing away from him. Keith couldn’t tell if Lance was asleep or just ignoring him so he quietly made his way over to the couch. Setting his towel on the glass table, he lifted the blanket and layed on the couch. 

Lance heard Keith emerge from the bathroom and chose not to say anything. He watched as the distant windows of other buildings reflected the moving headlights of traveling cars. It was almost hypnotic sometimes watching the light patterns move across the skyline. He tried not to think about Keith laying naked on his couch. Lance couldn’t remember anyone that turned him on and aggravated him all at once like Keith managed to. It wasn’t Keith’s fault that Lotor was looking to kidnap Lance, but it certainly added to the complexity of the situation. He tried not to think of what Lotor had them do and that it had been broadcast to a bunch of sick, rich bastards.

“Hey, Lance. Are you asleep?” came a quiet voice from the living area.

Lance rolled onto his back and crossed both arms over his chest. “I was,” he lied to Keith.

“Oh,” came the hushed response. “I just wanted to say thanks. You didn’t have to let me stay here after all that’s happened and I’m sorry I made fun of your pants. Goodnight.”

How could he stay mad at someone who was so socially awkward. “It’s fine. You’ve been through a ton of shit this week. If you need to make fun of my pants to feel better about yourself, I completely understand.” Lance almost got through that line without laughing, but failed. 

“Are you laughing at my misery?” Keith yelled from the couch. “I endured electroshock therapy, Lance, drugs, brainwashing, and all sorts of atrocities.”

“Wait, are you seriously ranking me with electroshock therapy?” Lance asked incredulously. 

Keith laughed from the couch. “No, I was joking. You were the best part of that whole experience.” He lowered his voice a bit. “Lotor kept saying that you asked for me to be there again when you came for your next visit. Is that true?”

Lance felt himself blushing. “Sort of, not exactly. I asked Allura to see if Lotor could get you back again. I just thought that since he liked our show so much, it would be best if the same chemistry was there for the second round.”

“That chemistry got us sold as sex pets,” Keith reasoned. “Lotor promised me a big bonus for doing the blindfold thing. He said he gave my portion to you.”

Lance suddenly felt horribly guilty. He hadn’t even thought about how much Lotor had paid him or that some of that might have been meant for Keith. “You can have all the money. It won’t make up for what you went through, but it belongs to you way more than it does to me.”

Keith smiled. “We can talk about that when this is all over. Shay suggested I ask Allura about a job.”

Lance rolled onto his side and faced the living area. “Really? You mean like as an escort?”

“I’ve got the experience,” he joked. “Plus, it’s a couple steps up from my current line of work. It would be nice to afford an apartment like this or at least something better than what I have now.”

“You did look good at the club. You’d be a natural at it. That would be kinda funny if we end up working together after all this.” He stopped and quickly corrected himself. “I mean, working for Allura and not working  _ together _ together.” Lance rolled onto his back glad Keith couldn’t see him blushing. He heard Keith laugh over on the couch.

“Would that really be so bad? Us working  _ together _ together again?” he half joked. “What if there’s a client that wants another show? A client that won’t try and kidnap us afterwards,” Keith added for clarity.

“I don’t know,” Lance answered honestly. He rolled over and faced the outside window before his mind could go down that path. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight, Keith.”

“Night, Lance,” Keith said and rolled over on his side. 

 


End file.
